Paul Feltman is director of the Global Bridge Talent initiative at World Education Services and chair of IMPRINT (Immigrant Professional Integration), a national coalition of nonprofits. Below, he writes about a new immigrant talent study supported by Knight Foundation. Photo: via Imprint Project web site.

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.  Related Link 

“New immigrant talent study will help six cities leverage local talent to contribute to economic development” – Press release (10/02/2014)

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 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!

Photo: via Imprint Project web site.