A Toledo organization prepares immigrants for in-demand jobs. Now, workers worry for the future

In a small Toledo classroom, Tahani Mohamed reviews English vocabulary words: manager, photocopier, payroll.

She’s studying to be an office assistant with hopes of someday getting a job in a medical office.

In Sudan, Mohamed earned her Bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory science and worked as a phlebotomist.

But when she came to Toledo as a refugee two years ago, she had to start over, learning everything from how to send an email to how to take her kids to school.

“We walk to school in my country,” she said. “Here, we have to use the car. I learned [to] drive here.”

The Christian organization Water for Ishmael helped her get her feet on the ground. It offers English classes for immigrants and refugees like her, and once she mastered the language’s basics, she participated in its workforce development program.

The goal is to prepare people for in-demand professions in fields like health care and manufacturing, allowing them to earn a decent salary, while simultaneously filling gaps in the local workforce.

“It’s a great program,” instructor Brenda Taylor said.

But recent changes to immigration policy and refugee admissions have given her pause: She worries about what’s in store for some of her students and about who the program will serve going forward.

Workforce development training

Taylor’s workforce development classes focus on teaching computer skills and job-specific jargon.

“We have a lot of people that come and right away they want to get a job,” she said. “But if [their English] is at a really low level, we're setting them up to not succeed."

Erin Gottsacker

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The Ohio Newsroom

“What I'm hoping by the time they're done with my class is that they have enough of the vocabulary that when they start [vocational classes], at least they have a base knowledge of some of the words that are used in the profession or the skill that they're learning.”

When students finish her course, Taylor helps them enroll in vocational training. Water for Ishmael partners with other local organizations, like the YWCA and Cherry Street Mission Ministries, which train Toledoans for in-demand roles like child care workers, auto-technicians, welders and nursing assistants.

“We're specifically choosing positions that need to be filled here,” said Devon Fitzpatrick, the workforce development manager for Cherry Street Mission Ministries. The organization provides beds and meals for people experiencing homelessness, and classes to help people find stable employment.

When students graduate, Fitzpatrick says 80% find a job within one month. Their average pay is $20 an hour.

“When someone comes to America, their hope is that this place is going to be better than where they came from,” he said. “And when we offer these kinds of opportunities, we're making good on that promise of what America stands for.”

And American communities benefit too, Fitzpatrick says.

“The folks that we've seen in class from Water for Ishmael, they bring an attitude of determination, positivity, optimism and that’s something I think Toledo could use a lot more of,” he said. “I’m excited to see how that continues in the workforce and in our neighborhoods.”

But over the past few months, the new Trump administration has made it more difficult for migrants to enter — and therefore, work — in the U.S.

Immigration restrictions

The day he took office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the country’s refugee admissions program.

“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” the order said. “This order suspends the [U.S. Refugee Admissions Program] until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

The administration has also detained and deported hundreds of people each day, and ended humanitarian parole — a form of temporary permission into the U.S. for immigrants from countries like Haiti and Venezuela who face urgent humanitarian crises.

Water for Ishmael is privately funded, so it is continuing to operate, but it’ll likely have fewer immigrants and refugees to train going forward.

Republican State Representative Josh Williams doesn’t see that as a problem.

He says his constituents in northwest Ohio are concerned that migrants — especially those without legal status — are taking job opportunities away from average Ohioans.

“We have ready, willing, able-bodied Ohioans that are ready to work,” he said. “And some of them need to be incentivized to work."

Williams says he believes in legal immigration managed in an orderly fashion, but that blanket parole policies under the Biden administration led to too many people coming into the United States, which strained services.

“Until we remove the individuals who should not be here,” he said, “we're going to have to constrain the amount of people that can enter legally. Once we get that system put in place and tuned up right, I think it would be great for everybody, including those individuals that work hard to get here.”

In the meantime, Williams has supported increasing vocational opportunities for kids in schools and microcredentialing for adults to help them enter the workforce and climb the economic ladder.

“That is where our focus should be instead of trying to import cheap labor,” he said.

But Rob Moore, principal of the public policy analysis firm, Scioto Analysis, says economically, Ohio needs immigrants and refugees. His firm recently studied the economic potential of new Americans in central Ohio.

“It's not only that, ‘Hey, these people need a job because they're here, and we got to give them a job.’ It's also, ‘Hey, we need their services,’” he said. “Most of the state is either flat or losing population and new Americans and immigrants are one of the best ways to try to reverse that trend.”

Blocking and deporting migrants, he says, will cause the state’s economy to shrink.

“That’s just how the economy works,” he said.

A future in Ohio

Regardless, Water for Ishmael’s Brenda Taylor says the economy isn’t the only reason Ohio should welcome immigrants and refugees.

“We are a very blessed country,” she said. “It is so important that we open our arms and open our hands to those around the world who are in desperate need of a home.”

Tahani Mohamed is making Toledo her home.

She recently finished Taylor’s technical English class, and now she’s enrolled in vocational school with hopes of getting back into the medical field as an office assistant.

“I want to have experience in my field,” she said. “I want to prepare for a master's degree in my field. I want to buy a big house for my family.”

She’s planning for a bright future in Ohio. But these days, fewer refugees can say the same.