Reblog: Can Refugee Resettlement Bolster Vermont’s Aging Workforce? Vermont Working Places Team Aims to Help Refugees Fill Open Jobs, Improve Local Public Services

Above: Small Cozy Downtown of Brattleboro, Vermont at Night Christian Hinkle – stock. adobe.com

Amir Samar and his family arrived in Vermont in January 2022, following nearly six months at a military base in Wisconsin, where they fled after the Taliban captured their home city of Kabul, Afghanistan.

But instead of moving to another base, Samar’s family and other Afghan refugees were invited to stay at the School for International Training, or SIT, in Brattleboro. It was part of a temporary housing program created with help from team members of the Southern Vermont Working Communities Challenge initiative.

Samar stayed on the campus for about a month and a half.

“We needed help enrolling the kids in school, navigating public transportation, and finding grocery stores,” he said. “People were very welcoming and supportive.”
Samar is now an employee of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, where he helps other new arrivals find jobs in Vermont – a state that’s facing workforce shortages due to its rapidly aging population.

Vermont, like rural areas nationwide, is also dealing with numerous other issues that impact the workforce, such as limited access to public transportation, health care, and housing. Alex Beck – who works for the corporation and also directs the local Working Communities team – said for the last decade, locals have been asking, “What’s going to happen when more people retire?” His team is hoping their efforts to expand the workforce will help provide some relief.

Read the full article at Boston Fed: “Can Refugee Resettlement Bolster Vermont’s Aging Workforce?”