Activated Voices: Economic Vibrancy in Immigrant Communities
Channel: Minnesota 2020
Date: 2012-07-20

Minnesota's emerging immigrant community represent exciting potential for economic development. Families of the African Diaspora have started new lives, entered school systems, and are starting new ventures, all of which define Minnesota's leading example as a hub for immigrant entreprenuership. And women are having an increasingly leading role than ever before.
In this installment of Activated Voices, we talk with Semhar Araia, founder and executive director of the Diaspora African Women's Network, a non-profit she formed "out of necissity" after recognizing so many stories of women of African descent striving for social entreprenuership and innovative community development. After a dynamic career as a US-Africa policy analyst and congressional staffer in Washington DC, Araia has returned home to Minnesota to build from scratch a national network of African American leaders.