Hmong American Partnership

A Message from our Executive Director

I would like to personally welcome you to our new website. For those of you who don’t know us, Hmong American Partnership (HAP) is the largest Hmong organization in Minnesota. Based in Saint Paul, HAP provides Hmong and other refugee communities with services and support to help them adjust to life in America and maximize available opportunities. Since its inception in 1990, HAP has steadily grown from offering just a few programs focused on providing refugee resettlement services to several hundred persons, to becoming a full-fledged social service agency with programs serving several thousand community members each year. Read More...

HAP Partner of the Month - April 2009

Midwest understands the challenges and characteristics of our newcomers and has consistently employed them. Midwest believes they have been rewarded with great results. This partnership represents a win/win situation for Midwest, HAP, and the clients and customers both serve. Especially important is that HAP clients gain the experience of a first job in the U.S., self-esteem, and money to support their families. Read More...

Success Stories

Steps to Financial Freedom

Xia, devoted father of an exuberant 2-year old, loves working with metal. He was certain he had a future doing sheet metal work. Help from HAP allowed Xia to set realistic goals and identify the training steps he needed to earn his sheet metal certification from St. Paul College and enter Local Union #10 of the Sheet Metal Worker's International Association.

Perseverance Leads to Success

Pa is a 29-year-old single mother of two children who entered the United States in August 2004 as a refugee. She left everything behind when she immigrated to the USA from her homeland in Thailand. Pa came into the USA with no English, no work experience, no knowledge of American culture or the ways of life in this country. She had to start from scratch, learning her ABCs while attending ESL classes 20 hours per week. Currently, she lives in St. Paul with her two children in a small apartment.

Dreams to Reality

Before July 2004, Ge lived in the Wat Tham Krabok refugee settlement in Thailand. As it was for so many others, Ge’s life was difficult and opportunities were limited, especially for her as a Hmong refugee and as a woman. Despite the challenges, Ge was able to get a job and earn some extra money teaching young children. Meanwhile, she dreamed of a new life in the United States.

Holiday Memories and New Traditions

Since 2007, KaRen refugees from Burma have been joining the Hmong students in HAP’s English classrooms. We asked a few of these KaRen students how they celebrated the holidays before coming to the United States. Although many of the class members are Buddhists, everyone said that they enjoyed and celebrated Christmas and always felt welcome to take part in festivities at churches.

The Path to Leadership

Bee was a bright fifteen year old who felt bored and lacked direction in school and in life. He said he needed to “do something outside of school that could help his future”.
Fortunately for Bee, friends at school encouraged him to join Hmong American Partnership’s YouthLEAD program, which helps Hmong youth stay in school and achieve academic and career success. Bee enjoyed YouthLEAD presentations and discussions with experts and role models. He also had opportunities to volunteer and become a peer leader. Over the course of his three years as a participant, volunteer, and mentor with HAP, Bee gained the skills and confidence to set big goals.

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