Tell us about Gii. The inspiration behind the creation of Gii and its mission?
The Global Impact Initiative, or Gii, was founded in the fall of 2020, with a mission to empower at-risk populations through education, mentoring, and job skills training. We are based in Austin,the capital of the state of Texas, and several of our programs are focused on helping refugees, new immigrants and other vulnerable people locally. We also offer programs and servicesnationally and internationally, either online, or through a robust network of partners and volunteers around the world.
The inspiration for Gii came from two sources.
First, I keenly felt the pain of vulnerable groups as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, hitting the poor and destabilized communities the hardest. Educational institutions were in crisis, with school buildings closing and traditional, in-person instruction models being disrupted. Many people lost their jobs, and others continued to work while risking their lives. We needed to find new ways to support school-age children and adults, to help students continue their education, to make training and education accessible to anyone who needed it under new conditions, and to offer a source of stability and empowerment to all.
And second, as a co-owner of the HOFT Institute, an education services provider, and co-founder of the Alhambra-US Chamber, an NGO promoting international and local partnerships and collaboration in business development, education, and beyond, I felt that I had the right resources, expertise, and connections to start working on bringing the above vision to life.
What impact is Gii trying to make?
Gii helps vulnerable communities create self-sustaining, fulfilling lives. This can take different forms, depending if we’re working with youth, parents, or entire families. For the children we serve, we aspire to support and mentor them, both academically and personally. We maintain a yearlong tutoring and mentoring program for students of all ages, supporting the children directly, as well as their parents and teachers. Every student who has worked with Gii’s academic support program has advanced to the next grade level, and we’ve even enrolled students virtually from cities nationwide.
Many of the mothers and women we help come from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, leaving them limited in opportunity to pursue careers outside of the home, hobbies they love, or even building friendships with others in their communities. To combat this, Gii founded a Refugee Sewing Collective Program, allowing these women – many of whom are refugees – to not only foster a sense of community, but also begin to build entrepreneurial mindsets and confidence in their abilities to create meaningful work, beyond their families.
Alongside showing their work at markets around Austin, Gii has hosted three Refugee Arts and Crafts Bazaars, allowing members of the collective, as well as many other Austin-area refugee populations, to sell their work, get contract employment and full-time job offers, and build awareness of their situation to receive support from the general Austin population. Ensuring self-sufficiency, as well as their social embeddedness and sense of belonging, is at the core of Gii’s work.
We’ve hosted other events, like job fairs and Iftar dinners, to expand the
opportunities for these families and showcase their hardworking, welcoming nature to the Austin community. Whether it’s helping them write resumes or prepare for interviews, assisting them in securing their commercial driver’s license (CDL) through our training program, or even just helping them to translate documents at the doctor’s office, Gii strives to ‘fill the gaps’ in achieving these families’ success.
What are the positive impacts Gii has already made?
Locally and nation-wide, we have done a lot of work supporting refugees through innovative programs to empower young adults, promote gender equality and sustainability, and assist job seekers through training and job placement. In 2023, Gii received substantial funding from the Texas Office of Refugees (TXOR) to help newly arrived refugees in Austin find sustainable employment. This has allowed us to expand our services and reach more individuals and families.
Over the last two years, the Gii Team helped place 509 refugees in jobs, tutored 469 children, mentored 396 women, delivered workforce readiness training to 100+ young adults and provided resume writing help for 269 individuals. We also developed 18 partnerships and received 17 press mentions/program recognitions.
We are very proud of our growing partnerships with local, regional, national, and global organizations, such as Google, Cisco, Dell, YMCA, and Combined Arms. These partners donated computers and other equipment, provided us with dedicated and highly-skilled volunteers, partnered with us in creative ways, and supported our community events. Partnerships allowed us access to technology, expertise, and other resources we didn’t have as a growing nonprofit, which we then turn around and offer to the communities we serve. It is inspiring to see refugees and new immigrants come to our events and to see the support and the enthusiasm from the local community, making them feel both welcome and connected.
Globally, we have proudly sustained our commitment to empowering young adults in Saudi Arabia through the Work Ready Now Program. With the invaluable support of the U.S. Consulate General of Dhahran and the KEYSS Project, this innovative program has become a cornerstone of Gii’s efforts in the region, offering vital skills training for entry into the job market and the nonprofit sector. The last few months marked a significant milestone, as we successfully supported 30 enthusiastic female students, fostering a new generation of change-makers in the environmentally sustainable sector.
Our comprehensive approach included specialized nonprofit workshops, which served as a dynamic platform for training and networking, enabling nonprofit organizations to enhance their capabilities and impact.
Can you share some future plans or initiatives that GII has in store to enhance its impact?
With support of UN grants, we are looking to expand our work with our partners in Poland, the Humanitarian Innovation Group, and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Foundation. These are primarily for Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers. Together, we plan to offer ESL courses to Ukrainian refugees who are currently in Poland, but aspire to come to the United States. We will
also be conducting leadership workshops with these women, familiarizing them with rules and regulations in the US, so they can hit the ground running. English classes will also be offered to their children while in Poland.
For refugees from Afghanistan, we are working with the Nazarene Fund and the Women for Justice organization to help young women impacted by the Taliban-imposed education ban. These women are currently in Afghanistan, but unable to complete their undergraduate and graduate studies. Gii and the Nazarene Fund are talking to various universities in India, Poland, and the US to find ways to offer scholarships for these women to complete their degrees online. We are also collaborating with Montana Global Consulting for similar opportunities in Mexico.
We will continue to equip young women in Lucknow, India with skills for employment in environmentally-oriented organizations. This initiative promotes gender equality and environmental stewardship, with a goal to replicate this model in other parts of the world.
In the US and locally, we will continue offering job placement services to newly arrived refugees through the TXOR grant, where we are projecting the delivery of aid and programming to hundreds of refugees. We will grow our academic support, tutoring, and ESL programs through various funding sources. We also plan to focus the Refugee Sewing Collective Program on upskilling and confidence-building to allow more refugee women with basic sewing skills to join the program and begin their journey to self-sufficiency. For our CDL program, we plan to secure more funding to build it further and expand offerings to more cohorts of students.
Finally, what advice would you give to other businesses and brands looking to become more sustainable and socially responsible in their operations?
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Draw inspiration from the resources and creativity available in your community. Build and leverage local partnerships. For example, our Refugee Sewing Collective has been utilizing donated equipment and fabrics from the beginning. This was out of necessity, as we didn’t have the resources to purchase new equipment and supplies. But we also found that there is a market for upcycled goods and a lot of interest and excitement in the community in supporting sustainable initiatives.
We’ve participated in community events, such as farmers markets and the annual Slow Fashion Fest, that draw customers looking to support local artisans and resource reuse. We now routinely receive donations that keep the sewing collective humming. People are happy to donate unused fabrics they may have collected over the years or inherited. They are happy to pass on sewing machines they are not using. The sustainability movement is stronger than ever – find it where you are, and work together to eliminate waste and implement sustainable practices in your operations.