WIN Initiative’s Pairing a Foreign Worker IT Platform with a Local Nonprofit Is a Success

The Business Council of Westchester’s Westchester Innovation Network’s (WIN) pairing of a local social services provider with an artificial intelligence-powered platform that streamlines foreign worker visa applications successfully helped the nonprofit hire new employees.

The BCW WIN matched Richmond Community Services (RCS) with the software platform Immigr8 to speed up the hiring process through the federal H-1B visa program for specialty occupations. The BCW WIN is an initiative that invites companies from around the world to embed their products with BCW members to drive innovation and economic development in the county.

The Mount Kisco-based nonprofit supports children and adults with developmental disabilities. RCS has hired foreign workers through the federal visa program to work in group homes or in its day programs. The work can be difficult, making it hard to find locals willing to do it.

The match was Immigr8’s first pilot program in Westchester County. Immigr8’s founder and CEO Daniel Milne said that his platform expedited government approvals for two foreign workers from Ghana.

“That was a pivotal moment for us as a business and a big proof point for the company,” said Milne, noting that the approvals happened in the early fall.

Immigr8’s ability to help RCS bring two foreign workers into the United States so far has led the nonprofit to sign a contract with Immigr8 for more visa application services.

“It works well,” said RCS’s president and CEO Paca Lipovac. “When you hire an attorney there is hand holding and that was my original hesitation with Daniel and Immigr8: How are we going to get what we need? But we got all the support we needed. It was smooth and it was certainly worth the money.”

Milne estimated that securing the first two foreign workers for RCS was twice as fast as the typical process. Lipovac said that she liked how RCS was able to control the speed of the application process because her staff was able to quickly complete documents online that formerly required waiting on an attorney who might not have prioritized RCS’s paperwork.

“The goal is to get all…users to five times faster than the status quo and I think we are approaching that,” said Milne.

Milne called the BCW WIN initiative “the biggest blessing” because the match allowed Immigr8 to make connections with officials at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to discuss refinements to Immigr8’s platform.

“None of this would have been possible without WIN matching us with an amazing customer like Richmond Community Services,” said Milne.

Can Your Business Benefit from BCW WIN?

The Business Council of Westchester is committed to helping entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life through the support of its diverse business ecosystem in Westchester County through its BCW WIN initiative. Its network is composed of small and mid-sized companies, professional services firms, and non-profits along with several of the best-known brands in the world like IBM, Pepsico, MasterCard, Heineken, Danone, Morgan Stanley, and Regeneron. It also includes some of the largest hospitals and healthcare systems in the world and many colleges and universities. Click here for more information.