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Karen Organization of Minnesota Attachment E City of Roseville ARPA Grant Application Application Submitted: 2/17/2023 Please describe the purpose/mission of your non-profit: KOM’s new mission statement (adopted by the Board of Directors in February 2023) is to build on the strengths of refugee and immigrant communities and remove barriers to achieving economic, social, and cultural wellbeing. Please describe how your non-profit currently serve the community of Roseville. In your response please include the number of Roseville community members you serve and the costs for providing your services to the Roseville community: KOM is located on Rice Street near Highway 36 in Roseville, at the intersection of southeastern Roseville, Saint Paul’s North End, and Saint Paul’s East Side, where most refugees from Burma in Minnesota live. KOM’s location is also less than 4 miles from Roseville Adult Learning Center (RALC) where many of KOM clients attend our training programs. KOM has partnered with RALC for the last 7 years to co-develop contextualized career training programs to support refugees and immigrants interested in advancing their careers. KOM partnered with RALC to make training programs more accessible to lower-level English speakers who do not qualify for traditional programs and help English learners advance college and credential attainment without having to spend their financial resources on remedial coursework. While most of KOM’s clients are residents of Saint Paul, KOM served 50 Roseville residents in the past year, 8 of which participated in our career training programs. The costs for providing services varies from $3,600-$9,500 per participant depending on the program track participants decide to pursue. KOM is interested in utilizing the Roseville ARPA grant to support our Transportation Logistics training program, which has seen considerable growth in interest from both jobseekers and employers. Generally describe the impacts of COVID to your organization: Karen and Hmong people had the highest COVID-19 transmission and mortality rates in Ramsey County (Coalition of Asian American Leaders). In 2020, KOM provided over 3,200 “on-call” appointments (in place of walk-in hours) for 900 families to address needs related to employment, financial assistance, distance learning, accessing PPE, and much more. KOM also partnered with the Minnesota Department of Health to create Karen-language materials about COVID-19 and coordinate vaccine clinics. Three years later, we are seeing the impacts of the pandemic on refugee communities, including challenges finding stable, living-wage employment; youth academic and behavioral challenges; limited childcare access; lingering health problems; and the compounded grief and trauma of losing loved ones. This has resulted in increased demand for KOM’s services. Please describe the negative and operational impact COVID-19 has had on your organization. In your response, please include specific information about the financial and operational impact along with any pertinent documents demonstrating the impacts: