Buba Kanagi, right, global talent coordinator for the North Dakota Global Talent Office, speaks during the Global Talent Summit at Bismarck State College on Aug. 14, 2025, next to panelists Holly Triska-Dally, left, state refugee coordinator, Derrick Gross, center-left, executive director of Communities Acting Together for Change and Hope, and Jasmine Tosseth-Smith, center, co-director of Bismarck Global Neighbors. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
North Dakota officials are hopeful that bolstering community engagement and English language learning will help the recruitment and retention of foreign-born workers as the state continues to address workforce shortages.
North Dakota’s Global Talent Office, formerly the Office of Legal Immigration, a division of the Department of Commerce, hosted the 2025 Global Talent Summit at Bismarck State College on Thursday that featured workforce and immigrant advocacy organizations highlighting the needs of the state.
“The real challenge … is retention,” said Buba Kanagi, global talent coordinator for the Global Talent Office. “Giving someone a job is one thing, but keeping them at the same job, upskilling them, is a whole different story.”
Kanagi said retention is about finding a home and becoming part of a community.
Rebekah Smith, executive director of Labor Mobility Partnerships, said when she addressed the summit last year, there were more than 26,000 job openings in the state and only 30 workers for every 100 positions. This year, there are about 22,000 job openings and nearly 50 workers for every 100 positions. She said economic factors may have played a role in the decrease in available positions.
Holly Triska-Dally, North Dakota state refugee coordinator, said her job is to connect refugees who come to the state with employment opportunities, English language learning, health and well-being programs and youth programs to acclimate them and their families to the state.
In 2023, North Dakota directly settled about 400 refugees, but also drew an additional 600 refugees to the state who initially settled elsewhere, she said.
She said refugees have told her they enjoy North Dakota more than other states because of the workforce and educational opportunities, as well as a lower cost of living. However, lack of transportation and adult English language classes can be barriers to becoming engrained into their new communities.
“They (adult learning centers) don’t have the capacity that they need and that’s a problem,” Triska-Dally said.
She said the adult learning center in Grand Forks, one of eight adult learning centers across the state, only has one classroom and one teacher for English classes.
“We tried working with them for refugee English language learning, couldn’t be done,” Triska-Dally said. “I think we waited for six months and not a single student was able to get into classes so we began working with East Grand Forks (Minnesota) on the other side of the river.”
She added city governments, local organizations and available services all have roles to play that can impact the integration of immigrants and refugees into North Dakota communities.
“The closer that we work with communities, the better outcomes we’re going to experience,” Triska-Dally said.
Rep. Dori Hauck, R-Hebron, attended the event. She said North Dakota has been utilizing international farm labor through visa programs for decades and now other sectors need international help, such as health care.
People may not see the need for immigrant workers until it affects their own families, Hauck said. She said, if a parent or grandparent isn’t getting the care they need because of worker shortages, people can come to a new realization on the need for legal immigration.
Gov. Kelly Armstrong and first lady Kjersti Armstrong, a Norway native, both spoke during the event and shared their stories about how immigration helped shape their lives together.
“Global talent is not a backup plan,” Kjersti Armstrong said. “It’s a cornerstone of innovation and progress.”
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Comments