Books help businesses and churches help immigrants

The University of Northern Iowa has unveiled two new books designed to help Iowa churches and businesses deal with immigrants. The state’s low unemployement rate has many Iowa businesses are turning to immigrants to fill jobs. Professor Mark Grey turned to businesses that’ve been successful in using immigrants to write his book. That includes the Marriott Hotel in downtown Des Moines where Bill Scott is the manager.He says the biggest barrier is that the managers and supervisors haven’t worked with a group of people that don’t speak English. Scott says you have to make it a team effort to intergrate the immigrants into the workforce.He says it has to be presented as a challenge and getmanagers and supervisors to buy into the importance of intergrating the immigrants into the workforce. Scott says he’s found immigrants are eager to learn the language and do so quickly. The increase in immigrants in business has lead to more immigrants seeking places to worship in Iowa. Another U-N-I book helps churches become more comfortable with the new Iowans. Reverand Sarai Beck is the executive director of the Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa.Beck says the guide for churches offers small group and bible study suggestions for congregations to reach out to immigrants. The guide for business managers was paid for by the U-S Department of Labor, while the church book was paid for by the Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa.