All of our programming is dedicated to being culturally focused and honoring; as our programming is for, of, and provided by new Americans in our community. This is done both through direct service of our staff and through the work of our 24 ESHARA Partners.
In addition to strengthening our collective impact as partners, ESHARA serves as a collaborative convenor with the goal of strengthening our collective partnership with mainstream resources and elevating the voices of all new Americans in our community.
We have strong working relationships, and plan to strengthen and expand this, across local public health, county social services, city government, state health and human services, local healthcare, housing partners, mental health providers, and more.
Our goal is to be the agency that can help pull together diverse partners and voices to ensure mainstream resources and partners understand the needs of all new Americans in our community and help to bridge the gaps in services to ensure all have access to necessary services to thrive.
Our Approach
What We Do
ESHARA gives new Americans the skills and support they need to earn a higher wage. In addition to resume building, mock interviewing, case management support, job search support, and job related skills training, ESHARA provides English Language Classes. Roughly 1 in 5 new American households, in our community, are considered to be limited English Speaking Households.
Employment/
Workforce Development
We work with households to apply for benefits, find stable housing, creatively solve
childcare issues, and address lack of transportation. All Care Coordinators are new Americans themselves and in that way resemble a “peer support” as they have shared experience, cultures, native languages, and frames of reference when providing support.
Care Coordination for Essential Services
We connect with large employers to build stronger relationships and work collaboratively to address issues and make proactive changes in worksite practices to ensure new Americans are successful in maintaining employment.
Workforce Liaison
Our youth empowerment programming in Fargo-Moorhead and St. Paul has the goal of supporting youth in finding employment and empowering youth to be our community’s next generation of leaders through youth programming and afterschool services.
In 2022, ESHARA was awarded a Youthprise East African Youth Economic Development grant with our partners and schools, helping 35 youth explore careers and gain skills necessary to support future success in higher education and employment.
Youth Empowerment Program
We work with health providers to provide client referrals and provide awareness, culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health awareness in the community. For example from 2022-2023, ESHARA worked with a public health agency to engage in one-on-one interviews with new American community members to gain cultural and religious insight about how to best address mental health needs within their communities. ESHARA used information gathered from these interviews to develop Mental Health Trainings for new Americans, reducing the perception that seeking help is taboo. ESHARA serves as advocates and a bridge, fostering community trust.
Health & Wellness
We plan and host several cultural celebrations and community gatherings that incorporate and celebrate cross-cultural heritage, arts (primary dancing and singing), traditions, and food, and support community education on cross-cultural heritage. This includes helping plan the annual Somali Cultural Festival in partnership with Hiddo Soor.
Cultural Heritage Preservation & Celebration
Areas of Service
Our role amongst our partners is to help bring all cultural, ethnic, and religious leaders and nonprofits together to solve problems our communities collectively face. Our partners have tasked ESHARA to build a system of coordinated efforts; with goals of increasing resources and limiting duplication of services to best serve all new Americans. Resources provided to our partners include shared meeting locations, tools, best practices for care coordination and workforce development, and space for shared learning and relationship building. Read more below to learn about our specific areas of programming:
