Our Story
Sharing language, culture, and friendship.
Bismarck Global Neighbors was founded in 2015 to meet the needs of central North Dakota's growing immigrant population.
Available services were not equipped to meet the unique needs of foreign-born families, and many of our new neighbors were feeling left out in the cold (sometimes literally).
Today, we are proud to operate the capital city's only New American mentorship program, and offer a number of free services to support integration in our awesome state.
We also take great pride in connecting host North Dakotans with the international community, allowing all of us to grow our knowledge of the wider world.
What We Believe
mission
the mission of Bismarck Global Neighbors is to facilitate successful integration of New Americans in central North Dakota, and to share language, culture, and friendship between all communities new and old.
vision
Our vision is that Central North Dakota would be a welcoming, diverse community where all new neighbors integrate smoothly and successfully.
values
Our work is guided by our belief in and commitment to:
respect
compassion
inclusiveness
and community collaboration
What we do
Nothing creates community like real neighbor-to-neighbor relationships. We pair volunteer American mentors with New American residents in 6 month partnerships.
In these partnerships, we provide training, support, and encouragement to our mentors, who spend their time (only an hour per week!) helping their New Neighbors with the following: English, cultural mentoring, applications, homework, job searching, and getting to know the city.
We also focus on advocacy: making sure that North Dakota's immigrant families are treated fairly and with respect, and that barriers to their inclusion and success are dismantled.
Finally, we're big into community. We host many educational and fun events that connect both our immigrant families and the host community in an open, welcoming environment.
