Our Work.

“Hmong American Leadership & Economic Development (HALED) has been a great source of support for the Eau Claire Hmong Community. As a local Hmong owned Thai Restaurant, HALED helped us build relationships with various organizations within the city to grow our business outside of traditional restaurant sales. These associations gave us opportunities to share with up-and-coming entrepreneurs’ information about starting a business while also helping us develop our leadership skills. 

In addition, HALED safeguarded us in times of adversity during the pandemic. Their persistent advocacy against racial discrimination allows our community to peacefully continue to operate our businesses and our families to live our lives”.

— Carrie Cha, owner of Thai Orchid in Eau Claire, WI

 
 

Over the past 2 years with the COVID-19 pandemic and trade war with China HMong ginseng farmers have been directly impacted due to either China not buying their harvest or having their ginseng prices reduced dramatically which in turn has affected the profit of their sales. Within the last year we have seen large numbers of Hmong ginseng farmers leave the area and industry because they could not get assistance or additional resources.

As an advocator of culturally responsive programs, during our site visits it was crucial we took the initiative to connect farmers to resources like the USDA to discuss about available programs that could support their farms. The most impactful aspect of our site visits though was taking the time to listen to their stories and form a deep understanding of their livelihood and struggles. Truly having capital access is crucial for Hmong ginseng farms along with having the resources to locate grants that could help alleviate farmer’s struggles especially during this pandemic. Although we were not able to visit every site on our list, we were able to compile the struggles and fears small business owners like HMong ginseng farmers face and will continue working with HMong farmers to uplift them to a path of prosperity.

Marathon County, Wisconsin