JFF RISE Network Member Continues Planting Seeds of Opportunity:

In the heart of Omaha, Nebraska, something formidable is taking root. Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim (CMPI), one of 10 organizations serving rural refugees and immigrants that make up the Rural Immigrant Success Exchange (RISE) Network at Jobs for the Future (JFF), is diligently working to empower Indigenous immigrants to formalize their entrepreneurial aspirations.

In April 2024, JFF had the chance to experience CMPI’s work firsthand during a recent site visit as part of the RISE initiative. CMPI’s deep roots in the areas it serves in Omaha and surrounding rural communities, combined with culturally attuned wraparound services, illustrate an approach that organizations promoting immigrant integration can learn from—address multidimensional barriers through community-embedded and comprehensive support. 

The Winding Road to Entrepreneurship  

Entrepreneurship and immigration have been critical drivers of productivity and growth in the U.S. economy for generations, with over 43% of Fortune 500 companies founded by first- and second-generation immigrants. Much like entrepreneurship, there is no single story of immigration and immigrant economic advancement. For immigrant entrepreneurs in rural Nebraska, pathways to economic advancement often begin in the margins—for example, building out business ideas on evenings and weekends away from demanding day jobs in the meatpacking industry.  

CMPI extends vital support services to immigrants in rural Nebraska who are taking the risk of beginning a small business. While entrepreneurship is inherently risky, it can offer a safer, more accessible, and often more flexible pathway to generational wealth-building compared with other low-paying jobs disproportionately held by immigrants. That’s why new immigrant business owners greatly benefit from CMPI’s scaffolded training pathways, as well as its tailored support services. For example, one CMPI RISE participant shared a haunting story involving losing $20,000 on a construction job when a customer refused to pay. Wage theft stories like this for immigrant entrepreneurs are common and LLCs offer an accessible pathway to business formalization and protection.  

CMPI is not alone in offering these services. Over half of the RISE Network is currently seeding immigrant–owned small businesses. This work contributes to building individuals’ financial health and well–being but is also more broadly additive to community revitalization and increased employment opportunities in rural areas.  

Building a Safety Net  

Partnerships are key resources across the RISE Network. When partnering intentionally, organizations can amplify their individual impact through an ecosystem of resources and service delivery. The JFF RISE team had the opportunity to meet with one of CMPI’s partner organizations, Centro Hispano, and learn about the growing list of services they offer immigrant and Indigenous groups in Columbus, NE. By joining forces with groups like Centro Hispano and the Center for Rural Affairs, CMPI can offer RISE participants increased training accessibility via asynchronous, hybrid, and in-person offerings. CMPI’s diverse economic advancement offerings and on-ramps include solely online classes focused on building sector-specific businesses, professional licensure preparation, and more generally applicable and in-person crash courses on small business essentials.  

However, CMPI’s economic advancement services are not limited to the fundamentals of small business formation. For many immigrants, escaping violence and instability in their home countries means bringing unhealed traumas into their new environments. CMPI’s trauma-informed care and culturally responsive approach proactively address these challenges by integrating protective factors, such as cultural events, community belonging opportunities, and mental health and wellness supports into their service delivery menu. Overall, CMPI’s RISE program design seeks to understand participants in their unique circumstances and meet and serve them holistically. 

One staff member explained the CMPI services provider approach as: “When you’re ready, we’re ready.” The first few years after arrival in a new country are about acclimating and learning all new systems, languages, and places while rebuilding a sense of self. CMPI wraps participants in a tapestry of supportive services—Mayan language classes, Indigenous farming practices, even marimba lessons—allowing them to stay anchored in their heritage as they gain an economic foothold. 

An Indigenous Vision of Prosperity  

The robust positive economic impact immigrant entrepreneurship has on host countries is widely acknowledged and well-understood. However, the rich non-economic influences, specifically social and cultural offerings that immigrants bring, often go unacknowledged. This intentionally holistic focus on appreciating and building sociocultural and economic wealth sets CMPI apart. One staff member encapsulated this by saying, “It is most important to conduct economic advancement pathways with a Maya cultural heartbeat that guides not only what services we offer but how we deliver these offerings.” CMPI, alongside many other RISE Network organizations, share an unmistakable commitment to preserving, sharing, and celebrating their community members’ cultures as a fertile foundation for economic advancement. 

By moving beyond the individualistic mindset centered on free-market capitalism, CMPI writes a new story in rural Nebraska. A story that nurtures an ethos of collectivism, community wealth-building, and intergenerational wisdom-sharing alongside entrepreneurialism. By building pathways that incorporate these interconnections, CMPI pays homage and representation to Indigenous Maya traditions. CMPI is paving a bold, Indigenous vision of prosperity—one where financial autonomy and entrepreneurial success intertwine with cultural revitalization, communal bonds, and self-actualization. 

After witnessing CMPI’s work in person, JFF’s RISE leadership team was struck by the profound understanding that an individual’s economic empowerment alone is only one part of a potential greater whole. CMPI is proof that creating spaces where immigrants can heal, celebrate their heritage, and architect meaningful lives rooted in community, plants the seeds for a new narrative of prosperity to bloom. CMPI’s story and mission demonstrate how immigrant career advancement can revitalize rural economies, but also underscore a crucial, often overlooked aspect of job quality—fostering a sense of belonging, value, and respect for all workers. As such, CMPI’s bold efforts align with and advance JFF’s overarching North Star goal: By 2033, 75 million people facing systemic barriers to advancement will work in quality jobs.