Nation’s promise in reach for new Americans
When Razvan Balita emigrated to the United States with his wife and three young children earlier this year, he made it just before President Trump’s travel ban went into effect — a decision that spared his family the kind of obstacles that many immigrants have faced while trying to come to America from several Muslim-majority nations.
But soon after he arrived, he faced an even bigger hurdle: As a neurosurgeon in his home country, he would have to re-establish himself in a new country that didn’t recognize his past degrees, get used to a language that he was still perfecting and assimilate to a nation with far different customs.
“I came here because I wanted my kids to be raised here to have a better chance,” Balita said, adding, “When I came here, I didn’t know to apply for a job.”
That’s why he enrolled in a recently formed program at a Chinatown nonprofit that serves immigrants and refugees just like him — those who hold high-level degrees that often aren’t recognized in the U.S.
“When they come here, many people tell them that their degrees are no good,” said Cyndy Chapin, director of employment services at the Asian American Civic Association.
“That’s not true,” she said. “We help them get their degrees verified and translated.”
The AACA’s program, called New Roots to Employment, also teaches the students the protocols of applying for work in the U.S., how to write a resume, how to network, and vocabulary related to their profession. The goal of the
20-week course is to either land an entry-level job related to their field of study, or to get into a college or university program to eventually re-enter their old profession after meeting educational requirements here in the U.S., said Kristan Fitah, who manages the New Roots program.
New Roots is one of several job-training programs for immigrants and some U.S. citizens — mostly poor minorities — run by the AACA, which turns 50 this year. Founded in 1967 as the Chinese American Civic Association, the Chinatown agency is still known largely for its many English as a second language courses for new Americans.
But in recent decades, the agency has been increasingly focused on providing its clients with the skills — both hands-on and in language — needed to start a career in the U.S. The AACA now runs a Careers in Banking & Finance program and a Building Energy Efficient Maintenance Skills program. In addition, it recently launched a pilot program to help immigrants learn how to start their own small business that’s mentored by a local restaurant owner and Bentley grad.
So far, according to the agency, the programs have been largely successful. About 120 students from all over the world enroll in the job-skills training courses every year, and the job placement rate for fiscal 2016 was 81 percent.
“It was a big step, it molded me to who I am,” said Tony Lee, 26, who, after completing the Building Energy Efficient Maintenance Skills program, got a job as an electrician with the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 103.
Lee, whose parents are Chinese immigrants, said his mother prompted him to enter the program after he dabbled in construction work and toyed with going to state college.
He learned about plumbing, appliance repair, carpentry, installing sheet rock, and electrical and building maintenance, he said. But most of all, said Lee who grew up in the Castle Square housing project, the free program gave him the encouragement he needed.
“The motivation was there,” Lee said. “There was a lot of push.”
Part of this push comes from the business partnerships the agency has formed with area employers, such as the Marriott Courtyard Boston Copley Square that provides a month of mentorship-style training for the building-maintenance skills course.
“They learn everything from how to change light bulbs to change pieces of the boiler system,” said Bernardo Gubert, the general manager at the hotel. Several of the former AACA students have been hired by the Marriott, said Gubert, noting that one is now an engineer there.
While the AACA’s job-skills training programs are tuition-free, they cost the agency about $7,000 per student. Most of the funding comes from city, state and federal grants, as well as donations from foundations and corporations such as Action for Boston Community Development, the Commonwealth Corporation and State Street.
“It’s a constant struggle and a balancing act to get these funds to provide free training,” Chapin said.
Yet the population the AACA serves is growing and changing. Enrollment in the English as a second language courses offered has increased to 350 students per year, and there are waiting lists. While the agency used to serve primarily Chinese immigrants with little education, it now helps people from all over the world — Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Haiti and many Latin American countries — and an increasing number of immigrants who are well educated like Balita, the neurosurgeon from Iraq.
“It used to be 99 percent Asian students in the 1990s,” said Richard Goldberg, the agency’s director of education.
Goldberg, who’s been with the AACA for nearly 23 years, suggested the ESL courses are as critical to finding a job for many of the students as the skills training, because immigrants are often judged on their English ability.
“It’s important as a foundation to have decent English to go on to something better,” Goldberg said.
And he’s seen the improvement first-hand. In fact, Goldberg said a current student from China is about to complete a top-level English course there after starting as a near beginner who struggled to find the right words when speaking. Now, he’s set to study engineering at Bunker Hill Community College in September.
“All our services are designed to help people start a career and not just get a job,” said Wendy Lauser, assistant director at the AACA.
Yet, Lauser and other staffers at the AACA recognize the hard work many of its students face building careers in their new country.
Balita, for one, said he knows the task of re-entering his former profession will be challenging, but he hopes the New Roots program will help him get a research or assistant job either in medicine or pharmacology while he goes back to school to become a doctor here.
“It is difficult to accept,” said Balita, who was a neurosurgeon since 2003, after starting his residency in 1997. “But to get to this goal, it will be a lot of hard work.”