About Us
Mission
We are a part of the community that we serve.
Our Mission
Our Organization
Our Goal
We do this in our approach by:
1) Leveraging both TANF (Transitional Assistance for Needy Families) and Non-TANF resources to achieve the goals of Work First and emerging communities.
2) Establishing peer and professionals mentoring activities and opportunities.
3) Collaborating with other agencies supporting employment for refugees and immigrants.
4) Engaging professional immigrants and refugees of all genders to participate and make input in the program development and evaluations.
5) Contributing to community initiatives as and when needed.
6) Advocating for policy changes for services that eliminate poverty among refugee and immigrants communities.
7) Engaging and energizing communities in systems changes.
8) Implementing a pilot project to demonstrate that community-desired system changes and services are successful and fruitful for products consumers.
History
We wouldn’t be here without Amina.
PIE was co-founded by Amina Ahmed and Hien Kieu. In 2018, Amina tragically passed due to a car accident. Her legacy is continued by our current team. We strive to uphold her values and continue her work to help our community through PIE. Amina, thank you for your wisdom and service—you inspire us every day and are missed by everyone.
Board of Directors
Saido Alinur
Saido left for the border of Somalia and Kenya in the early 1990s with her family, where they spent three years in a refugee camp located in Mumbasa Kenya. In 1993 she came to the US, helping Somali families with interpretation, translation, filling out immigration papers and job applications in her free time, leading to her current work at Neighborhood house as an Employment Specialist. She began her career as a case manager at African Mutual Assistance Association in St. Louis, Missouri from 2000 to 2003 which gave her the ambition to pursue social work. She has provided resources for the East African communities, held Women’s Support Groups to empower the ladies who were new to the country, and also did bookkeeping for the agency. She has since relocated to Seattle, WA with her family and feels blessed because her clients motivate her as much as she does for them.
Jonathan Weinstein
Jonathan’s 30-year career has spanned for-profit business and non-profit projects in the United States and emerging markets. His business career in technology included senior roles at technology startups, Microsoft, and Apple Computer’s software subsidiary Claris Corp. He pursued interests in global development and social enterprise joining Unitus in 2007, a leader in microfinance for the Indian market. He has spent years in Nicaragua where he lives part-time and helped found a triple bottom line housing business. Jonathan graduated Bachelor of Arts with honors from Brown University.
Maliha Mirza
Maliha is a former refugee from Afghanistan who graduated with her Master from the University of Washington. Her lived experience and perspectives will provide guidance and direction for the organization to best address the needs of immigrants and refugees. Maliha is a long time social worker and is currently supporting the health of new Afghan refugees and many other individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Staff
Hien Kieu
Executive Director
Hien is an indigenous Cham ethnic of Central Vietnam, grew up in a refugee family who fled to the United States as a result of the Vietnam War, and is the only person in her family to have graduated college. While attending college, she volunteered working with immigrants and refugees and felt immediate connections with the clients and the diverse cultural backgrounds of her colleagues who did similar work. After completing college, she immediately immersed herself in this work and for the next 10 years successfully managed a workforce development program for newly arrived immigrants and refugees. Hien continued her passion in workforce development and joined the former Amina Ahmed in creating a one-of-a-kind organization that strive to create meaningful opportunities in employment and trainings for the LEP, immigrant and refugee population. With the loss of Amina and the heartbreak that came along with it, Hien’s desire to continue Amina’s legacy through the work of PIE grew stronger.
Hien is grateful to her team who continue to inspire her every day and to the community to continue entrusting their success in PIE. Hien enjoys hanging out in her backyard barbecuing with her kids and relaxing on her hammock under a massive grape-wrapped pergola; weekend clamming; and walking on the beach while sipping sugarcane juice. Hien is also competitive when it comes to playing sports with her colleagues.
Rother Rashid
Program Manager II
Tara McCoy
Fiscal Specialist
Mohamed Abdirahman
Program Manager
Ngam Nguyen
Organizational Development Consultant
Aisha Salad
Cafe PIE Barista
Languages: Somali, Swahili, English
Emilene Castillo
Environmental Program Manager
Abdishakur Hussein
Youth Employment Case Manager
Mohamed Worsome
Employment Practitioner
Shukri Mohamed
Office Assistant
Alex Kohari
Barista Trainer/Lead
Languages: English, Hungarian
Abdirahman Omar
Program Director
Languages: Somali, Arabic, English
Quincy Sander
ESL & Digital Literacy Instructor
Languages: English
Elizabeth Mayatsa
YFHPI Case Manager
Mohamed Ali
Employment Practitioner
Claire Igawa
Restoration Crew Lead
Aaron Yoon
Development Director
Languages: Korean, English
Bishara Harun
Employment Practitioner
Kawsar Elahi
Housing Stabilization Service Case Manager
Languages: Farsi, Dari, Pashto, English
Kailee Go
Volunteer Coordinator - Refugee Youth Mentorship Program (RYMP)
Languages: English
Sahar Hameed
Youth Engagement Intern
Languages: Dari, Pashto, English
Elhama Waezzada
Environment Crew Lead
Languages: Dari, Pashto, English
Caesar Julius Robinson
Community Outreach & Education Coordinator
Languages: English
Halima Salad
Cafe PIE Barista
Languages: Somali, Swahili, English
partners
Thank you to our partners.
We have stories to tell…
In the Summer of 2021, Patient began working with Partner in Employment’s Youth Restoration Training Crew to pursue his vision of working in nature. The program allowed him to learn about park maintenance and environmental conservation, meet new people, and explore a new field of interest, all while earning a paycheck.
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As a parent I was scared because I didn’t know how we were going to survive, but luckily my community helped me get in contact with a case manager at Partner in Employment who could speak my language.
PIE paid my rent for two months, and also got me enrolled in an aerospace manufacturing program which I just completed, and now they’re helping me with my resume so that I can get a job which will let me support my family. PIE also enrolled my daughter in their youth mentorship program so that she will continue to be successful in school, and get life success mentorship from someone who understands our culture and speaks our language. She got a job at Panda Express and got accepted to her dream school for aviation, Central Washington University.
I am so thankful for the great help and security that I’ve received from PIE – it has been a turning point for the success of my family.