Our Impact

Expanding Services for Afghan Newcomers

Founded 22 years ago, Upwardly Global is the first and longest-serving organization dedicated to advancing the inclusion of immigrant and refugee professionals into the workforce, and to helping these individuals bring their skills and perspectives into the American economy. As a leader in workforce inclusion, we are uniquely positioned to address the needs of Afghan arrivals, having been the only organization to support professional career re-entry for Iraqi and Afghan SIV recipients.

 

With a multipronged outreach approach, strong word-of-mouth, and robust stakeholder engagement, we reached a third of our addressable market in under six months, which helps demonstrate the need for robust career readiness services for skilled newcomers.

350+

We have placed over 350 Afghan newcomers into jobs that align with their experience and skill set.

$60k+

Average income gain of our program alumni.

Key Learnings

Though we are still operationalizing our support for Afghan newcomers, some key learnings have emerged:

 

  • Afghans with professional backgrounds were too often overlooked and their skills underappreciated. Key to our work is highlighting the significant professional backgrounds of Afghan newcomers coming to the U.S. and their potential to contribute some $650 million annually to our economy.
  • Workforce integration efforts must be differentiated to reflect these diverse skill sets and individual support needs. No one is served well when we do otherwise – not the newcomers whose hard-earned experience is otherwise ignored and denigrated, nor our companies whose need for mid- and high-level talent can be addressed when we do this work right.
  • Collaboration and trust among key stakeholders is critical to advancing positive outcomes — in this case, Upwardly Global was fortunate to work closely with the U.S. military and key governmental agencies, refugee resettlement organizations, employer partners, advocacy groups and new coalitions to coordinate services and share information.
  • As migration trends increase globally, rapid response mechanisms that allow agencies with specialized knowledge like Upwardly Global to pivot to support new populations effectively, are critical. Already, we have started to use infrastructure created during this campaign to support a new wave of Ukrainian refugees.
  • Workforce integration efforts must span training and job seeker support with effective employer engagement. Upwardly Global has been at the forefront of innovative hiring practices and sharing of best practices, which allowed us to move real hiring.

Ways To Partner with Upwardly Global

Volunteer

Volunteer with our jobseekers.

Support

Provide financial support by donating to our Haven Fund.

Take action

Contact your elected officials and urge them to vote in favor of the Act, from our partners at CWS.