A small but mighty team of WashU Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS) staff were in New Orleans recently sharing how the CAPS English Language Programs (ELP) Empower program is changing lives for new Americans – immigrants and refugees – in St. Louis.
ELP Director Katie Brown, ELP Student Success Navigator Andre Mayers and CAPS Director of Business Development & School Initiatives Jodie Lloyd led an engaging workshop exploring how programs like Empower can transform communities and institutions as part of the 2024 Convergence: Credential Innovation in Higher Education conference presented jointly by UPCEA and AACRAO.
“We provided a broad overview of the purpose of Empower and its basic programming and workshopped ideas on how other institutions could build on our students’ successes,” said Brown. “We explored questions like, ‘Does your community have an immigrant and refugee population?’ ‘Do you see gaps in services and how could your institution fill those gaps?’ and then, “How are you going to fund it?’”
Brown said they explored how federal, state, community and private funding could all play a part in helping to develop similar programs in other communities. Discussion included a focus on how other institutions could leverage existing programming to create opportunities for new Americans.
“Schools like CAPS have to be nimble in how they can partner with community organizations that already offer different programming or services for new Americans,” she said, noting that the Empower program would not have been possible without a partnership with the St. Louis Mosaic project. “We explored how schools could create credential programs that might be relevant to local employers. They might be able to fill open positions if there was a way to upskill immigrants and refugees already living in their community.”
Brown said she was aware of several institutions across the country that provide services for new Americans but did not know of any like the Empower program that combined English language programs with career credentialing offered free of charge.
The Empower program was recognized earlier in September by the World Trade Center St. Louis as part of the annual Growing Global celebration where it was revealed that St. Louis leads the nation in foreign-born population growth with a 23.2% year-over-year increase from 2022-2023.
“Other midsized cities like St. Louis may have populations in decline, and they can see that the effort the city has put into growing its immigrant population has tangible benefits to the community,” said Brown. “That also means you need to have support for those populations like the Empower program does. I imagine WashU is not the only university interested in engaging with the community in which it exists.
“This conference was a good chance for us to share the impact that we have made in only six months since Empower started,” Brown added. “Our program can be the model for other institutions to make a meaningful impact in their own community.”
