Improving access to high-quality jobs: lessons from Encuentro’s immigrant workforce model
How do we improve immigrant workers’ access to quality jobs? The answer — according to workers themselves — is far more layered than workforce development programs and funders typically acknowledge. We had the opportunity to explore this question during the inaugural session of the Economic Inclusion Funders Roundtable on April 30.
Workforce Matters, in partnership with supporting member World Education Services (WES) Mariam Assefa Fund and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), is convening a new four-part funder roundtable this year, exploring what it takes to move immigrants and refugees from the margins of the labor market into genuinely good work — and what philanthropy must do differently to make that possible.
About the series
Structured as four conversations across 2026 — three virtual and one in-person at GCIR’s national convening in Baltimore this fall — the series invites funders to learn alongside immigrant-serving organizations, examine community-rooted approaches to workforce development, and identify concrete opportunities for collaboration. Launched by the WES Mariam Assefa Fund, a philanthropic initiative that has focused on immigrant economic inclusion since 2019, this series reflects our shared belief that it is critical for funders to listen to workers, build trust with communities, and fund differently.
Encuentro: a worker-centered model in practice
Each session will feature one or more grantee case studies. In the first session, we invited Andrea Plaza, founding Executive Director of Encuentro, a 16-year-old organization based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to share about their work helping immigrant workers secure quality employment.
Encuentro centers its workforce programming on entrepreneurship and self-employment. Its current focus is home health aides, a job that provides flexible work for immigrants, but as Andrea noted, also “should be but isn’t currently considered a quality job” due to wages and working conditions. Encuentro’s 15-week training leads to credentials in home health aide, personal care assistance, CPR, and first aid — and, critically, supports graduates in building their own self-employed practices.
“Good work means adequate pay and stability — but also recognition, respect, and the ability to balance work and family responsibilities.”
Agency-employed home health aides in New Mexico earn $12–14 per hour, according to Andrea. Encuentro graduates working for themselves can earn $23–27 per hour, she noted. Beyond wages, self-employment gives workers the power to negotiate their own contracts and set their own terms — something Andrea described as genuinely motivating for graduates who are passionate about care work, in sharp contrast to the high turnover and low satisfaction typical across the industry.
Central to this model is EnCasa Care Connections, an online matching registry developed by Encuentro that links graduates directly with families seeking care. As Andrea noted, however, the registry only works with deep investment in coaching: graduates need support building confidence, practicing how to interview, negotiate contracts, and set fair wages for themselves. This career coaching layer — connecting skills to actual employment — is one Encuentro identified as an area where it needs to grow, and one that Andrea noted is broadly underfunded across the field.
Persistent barriers — and creative responses
Andrea outlined several barriers immigrant workers face to securing training and quality employment: the lack of instruction in their first language or with English language supports; translating credentials and skills, particularly those obtained abroad, into commensurate employment in the U.S.; the risk of transitioning to a new job when the labor market feels uncertain and somewhat fraught; and the challenge of relying on social networks that are often concentrated in low-wage sectors, making upward mobility harder to reach. For workers holding two jobs and raising families, even committing to a 15-week program requires significant sacrifice.
Recent developments have added friction to the self-employment pathway. Workers typically use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to legally establish their businesses. Paying taxes through this system had historically strengthened workers’ cases for permanent residency and citizenship. New concerns about information sharing between federal agencies have created fear around business formalization — undermining a pathway that previously supported both economic stability and legal status for many workers.
Encuentro is responding to these challenges with creativity rather than retreat. Its Frontline Worker Collaborative connects home health aides with organizations working across housing, transportation, health, and behavioral health — building cross-sector support for workers and the seniors they serve. Andrea also pointed to Growing Up New Mexico, a childcare-sector initiative, as a promising model worth studying: it uses financial incentives tied to career milestones and coaching sessions to help workers follow through on long-term training commitments. Encuentro’s approaches are likewise gaining traction in other communities as aspects of its model are replicated with funder support.
Takeaways for Philanthropy
Breakout discussions surfaced consistent themes: the need to de-risk job transitions for immigrant workers; the critical and underinvested role of career coaching; the potential of Workforce Pell to help more immigrant workers access short-term credential programs; and the importance of cross-sector partnerships that leverage public resources alongside philanthropic dollars. Participants also noted that philanthropy is well-positioned to absorb risk that public systems cannot — including jump-starting pathways that employers and government can later sustain.
The call concluded with a few takeaways for workforce grantmakers seeking to improve job quality for immigrants:
- Invest in career coaching and navigation — credentials alone do not equal employment.
- De-risk job transitions by providing wraparound support as workers move from training into new jobs and sectors.
- Support worker-led and worker-informed program design.
- Facilitate public-private partnerships that stretch philanthropic capital and engage state systems.
- Invest in capacity-building so small organizations holding big solutions can grow to scale.
- Build the data infrastructure needed to understand the complex, rapidly changing realities of immigrant workers.
- Provide flexible, trust-based, longer-runway funding that allows organizations to respond to real-time conditions.
The next session will be hosted by GCIR on June 29th and will focus on building immigrant and worker power. Funders are invited to learn more and register here.
