Learn More about

Our Upcoming Survey

of Immigrant Professionals

Last week, you got the formal announcement of our new survey project, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Today, we'd like to give you a preview of how the survey will work.

In a few weeks, we'll be releasing an online survey link in several different languages.

We'll be asking for your help to share that link with college-educated immigrants in the Boston, Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, San Jose, and Seattle areas.

Our goal will be to get as many responses as possible -- both from immigrants who have established US professionals careers, and those who are still striving to do so.

In November, we'll move on to the second phase of our survey, a recorded audio survey. (See our press release for more details on this innovative part of the process.)

Finally, in March 2015 we'll be releasing the results of our survey.

It's an intensive process and we're fortunate to have terrific research partners. Scroll down to listen to a quick audio clip about the project, and see a blog post from IMPRINT's Chair, Paul Feltman.

Thank you for your interest in this work!

Stacey Simon headshot

Stacey Simon
Director, IMPRINT

Listen Now:

Radio Clip Features Our Survey

We were delighted that Philadelphia's National Public Radio affiliate, WHYY, chose to feature a short story about our

survey project.

IMPRINT Communications and Policy Director Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, who also has a role with IMPRINT member organization the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, was interviewed.

Listen now to the 2-minute audio piece from reporter Elisabeth Perez-Luna, which aired on October 2, 2014.

Talent Study to Examine Employment of College-Educated Immigrants

by Paul Feltman

Chair, IMPRINT and Director, WES Global Talent Bridge

Tucked away in a quiet municipal office in Philadelphia, a man named Prakash Patel (I've changed his name to protect his privacy) is working. Today he is a statistical analyst, but when he first arrived in the United States from India, the only job he could find was in a warehouse in Texas. He spent months packing and unpacking boxes, striving to learn how he could make the transition to becoming a professional again.

There are thousands of stories like Patel's in the Philadelphia region - where 38 percent of immigrants hold college degrees, but only some of them are employed in skill-appropriate jobs.

Surprisingly, there is little available data to illustrate what helps college-educated immigrants such as Patel to make the leap from a survival-level job to professional employment. What helps them succeed? What holds them back? How are factors such as English skills influenced by gender, age or professional field?

Four Knight communities will receive an unprecedented peek into the answers to these questions thanks to new support from Knight Foundation. This investment will support a formal study of college-educated immigrants in Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia and San Jose, Calif., (as well as the comparison cities of Boston and Seattle).

World Education Services is overseeing the project in collaboration with IMPRINT, a national coalition that we co-founded. The lead researcher for this study will be Professor James Witte of the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University.

We expect to survey several thousand immigrants across the six cities. Our study will seek to understand the trajectories of immigrants who have

already succeeded professionally, as well as those who are still struggling.

Joining us in this endeavor is an additional research partner, AudioNow. Based in Washington D.C., AudioNow is a technology company that helps radio stations reach immigrant listeners via mobile phone. Working with AudioNow will allow us to reach individuals who may be difficult to reach via traditional survey methods.

Our survey will be in the field this fall, and we will publish the results in spring 2015. It's an exciting process. We are looking forward to contributing to Knight's knowledge about how place can affect talent and opportunity in the selected communities!

About the Research Partners

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit

www.KnightFoundation.org

About World Education Services

World Education Services (WES) is the leading source of international education intelligence. WES is a not-for-profit organization with nearly 40 years' experience evaluating international credentials. WES provides more than 100,000 evaluations each year that are accepted by thousands of academic institutions, employers, licensing and certification boards, and government agencies in the U.S. and Canada. WES's Global Talent Bridge initiative is dedicated to helping skilled immigrants fully utilize their talents and education in the United States. Learn more at www.wes.org

About IMPRINT

IMPRINT (Immigrant Professional Integration) is a national coalition of nonprofit organizations. Founded in 2011, IMPRINT is an advocate for federal, state and local policies that aid in the economic integration of immigrant professionals. Learn more at www.imprintproject.org

About the Institute for Immigration Research

The Institute for Immigration Research is a joint venture between George Mason University and The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. (ILC) of Massachusetts. Its mission is to refocus the immigration conversation among academics, policy-makers and the public, including the business community and media, by producing and disseminating unbiased and objective, interdisciplinary academic research related to immigrants and immigration to the United States.

Learn more about the Institute for Immigration Research

About AudioNow

AudioNow, based in Washington, D.C., is the world's largest mobile platform connecting radio broadcasters to listeners in the diaspora through call-to-listen technology. With more than 2,200 broadcast partners, including global leaders such as the United Nations, BBC, Radio France International, Radio Free Asia, and the Voice of America, AudioNow reaches more than 130 different nationalities and ethnic groups, also providing unique research and survey capabilities unavailable anywhere in the world. Learn more at www.audionow.com