At this month's Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Forum, speakers shared information and resources for immigrant and refugee community members on a variety of important topics, including the benefits of naturalization, Capacity Building Program, DEED’s Economic Development small business programs and more.

Benefits of Naturalization in Minnesota

In March of 2022, the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, in partnership with the St. Paul Area Chamber, City of Minneapolis, and City of St. Paul, released The Journey to Belonging in the Twin Cities, a comprehensive roadmap to making the Twin Cities a more welcoming place for immigrants and refugees. From this roadmap, one of the major implementation priorities to emerge was the need to increase the number of residents who obtain United States citizenship through naturalization. Some of the civic benefits of individual naturalization include the ability to vote, serve on a jury and run for elected office. Economic benefits can include a better chance of finding secure employment, higher wages, and a better chance at homeownership than those who are not naturalized. Two of the major barriers to naturalization include the need to speak, read and write in English, as well as the ability to pay for the naturalization application filing fees. Their work will now focus on ways to help reduce those barriers for immigrants and refugees to achieve more naturalized citizens in the Twin Cities.

Capacity Building Program Overview

Ose Sesay of Push Strategist, LLC shared an overview of the Capacity Building Program that’s targeted to small businesses. Many small businesses often don’t have enough organizational skills to seek funding and grow their business and their customer base. This pilot program will equip Black, Brown, Indigenous and communities of color businesses and organizations with the skills and knowledge to increase capacity and acquire funds to serve their communities at a low or no cost. Some of the skills they will acquire include: business development and training, financial management, implementation design, grant writing and more. If you’re interested in joining the next cohort, you can complete their form for more information.

DEED’s Economic Development Overview

DEED’s Economic Development team highlighted the many different programs and offices that support small businesses and entrepreneurs in Minnesota. The Economic Development team supports the growth of businesses and communities through grants and loans, consultations, education sessions and other programs and services. Some of those programs and services include:

Small Business Assistance Office – Provides consultations and answers questions related to starting a business. It offers no-cost guidebooks on a broad range of business topics, including A Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota.

Small Business Development Centers – A statewide network of nine regional SBDCs that provides professional expertise and guidance for small businesses – both startups and established businesses.

Small Business Assistance Partnerships – Partnerships represent and empower the success of businesses owned and operated by  Black, Brown, Indigenous and communities of color, veterans, women, persons with disabilities and entrepreneurs located in Greater Minnesota. They provide high quality free or low-cost professional business development and technical assistance services.

Launch Minnesota – A statewide collaborative effort to accelerate the growth of startups and amplify Minnesota as a national leader in innovation.

Emerging Entrepreneur Loan Program – Provides loan capital for businesses that are owned and operated by Black, Brown, Indigenous and communities of color, low-income persons, women, veterans and/or persons with disabilities. DEED provides grant funds to a network of nonprofit lenders which use these funds for loans to start-up and expanding businesses throughout the state.

Minnesota Trade Office - Provides export assistance to Minnesota's manufacturers and service providers. Programs and services focus primarily on assisting small and medium-sized companies.

Community Developments 

Public Engagement Liaison Hannah Dereje introduced herself to the forum members. She represents African diaspora and immigrant and refugee communities in the Governor’s Office of Public Engagement. If you have questions, please reach out to her at 612-840-0594 or hannah.dereje@state.mn.us

If you missed this month’s forum, you can watch the discussion on DEED’s YouTube channel.