Southeast Asian Refugee Community Home

Southeast Asian Refugee Community Home (SEARCH) is a nonprofit organization devoted to helping low income and immigrant populations find employment and gain the job skills necessary to be able to achieve sustainable income.

Currently within the State of Minnesota, the growth of new immigrant/refugee populations is outpacing the Federal resources that are available to assist in building a new life in Minnesota. Lack of available long term support is also contributing to economic, education, and healthcare disadvantages within Minnesota’s refugee populations. If someone does not address these disadvantages the direct consequence will be an expansion of new racial inequality within our State. Organizations such as SEARCH seek to narrow the gap in equality by focusing on providing families with sustainable income. However, we cannot close this gap alone and truly need sustained effort from someone like you.

Of the immigrants and refugees in the Twin Cities area, SEARCH works most often with Somali, Burmese/Karen, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotian, and Bhutanese clients. Challenges working with immigrant/refugees who just enter the United States are numerous. Barriers to employment that SEARCH’s clients regularly identify are: Insufficient command of the English language, failure to meet the minimum educational requirements for Twin City’s area job postings, limited access to reliable transportation, and lingering untreated physical and mental health issues. Matching a job that meets the needs of an individual client is an uphill battle and SEARCH is constantly looking for ways to improve the prospects of the people we serve.