Jill Schramm/MDN Katie Ralston Howe, right, director of Workforce Development with the N.D. Department of Commerce, speaks at a meeting of the Economic Development Plan Review Committee in Minot City Hall Friday. At left is Janna Pastir with the N.D. Office of Legal Immigration.

Bolstering North Dakota’s workforce by recruiting immigrants already in the country and international students already in the state is a strategy that is seeing some success for the state’s Office of Legal Immigration.

Janna Pastir, deputy director of the Office of Legal Immigration, spoke to the Minot City Council’s Economic Development Review Committee Friday about the advantages of seeking out immigrants who may already have gone through the legal processes to be work ready.

“They are looking for a place they can move to that is going to provide them a better quality of life or the ability to work at the top of their scope. A lot of people are working well below their international training or credentials,” Pastir said. “The three that are the most readily available and align really well with the needs of North Dakota are secondary migrants. And that can be refugees, asylum-granted, asylum seekers or individuals with temporary protected status. An example would be the Afghans that helped with the United States government activities.”

Through that secondary migration pipeline, the state office has begun working with an entity that is providing case management for immigrants living in New York. The long-term care center in Harvey will be employing three families who will be relocating in two weeks, Pastir said.

“That was a really fast turnaround. It’s been four weeks from initiation to those job offers being made, and that’s a partnership that we looked at specifically because New York is willing to pay some of that relocation, which is especially helpful for nonprofits or smaller businesses,” she said.

Pastir explained the shelter program in New York is expiring at the end of the year so there is a need to move the immigrants to other locations.

“All of these individuals already work but because they’re working in New York City, they can’t afford to move out of the shelter system,” she said. “They’ve been looking for ways and places that they can relocate to.”

For New York, it is more cost effective to fund relocation than secure longer term housing, she added.

A separate program through the North Dakota Petroleum Council, initiated before the state immigration office was created, recruited Ukrainian workers to the oil field. The state office has since provided some assistance to the petroleum council.

“They brought 60 people over through that program,” Pastir said, noting all continue to live in North Dakota and are working. Some have sponsored family members to join them.

Brekka Kramer, president/CEO of Minot Area Chamber EDC, said three companies in the Minot area have used the program. Ten Ukrainian immigrants relocated and are still living and working in the area, although additional recruitments are on pause, she said.

Katie Ralston Howe, director of Workforce Development in the North Dakota Department of Commerce, spoke about the Find the Good Life program that provides a concierge service for out-of-state job seekers. Currently, there are 4,200 prospective employees in the pipeline, she said.

“Eighty-one percent of our job seekers have never been to the state,” she said. “So there’s a lot of education that we need to provide, not only through our relocation help desk but through our marketing efforts.”

Forty-three individuals have relocated through the program. Ralston Howe said more are being served through the program who are still in the moving process.

“The other challenge that we’re now experiencing is that employers are a little hesitant when it comes to out-of-state job seekers,” she said “So there’s some education that we need to do on the employer side to help them understand that these are really serious candidates, and they’re interested in the communities and the careers that we have available here in North Dakota.”

Ralston Howe said not all businesses can afford to support relocation costs for their out-of-state new hires. The Commerce Department is looking into ways to assist employers in picking up those costs.

Ralston Howe also said there has been more interest than expected in expanding childcare facilities to promote workforce growth.

“So far, we have funded 54 childcare projects statewide, creating more than 2,300 new childcare slots, which is tremendous,” she said. “A lot of these projects are still under construction, so I don’t know exactly how many of these slots have been filled. Naturally, the ability to meet the new capacity that’s been created hinges on workforce and the centers’ abilities to staff the vacancies that they have.”

In Minot’s Region 2, the state has supported seven childcare projects, creating more than 370 childcare spots, Ralston Howe said.