Fowzia Adde turns to her refugee experience to help other immigrants thrive in Moorhead

Fowzia Adde is the founder and executive director of the Immigrant Development Center in Moorhead. It’s an organization that helps immigrants and refugees navigate everything from higher education to entrepreneurship and small business loans. Adde is also leading an ambitious effort to create a cultural mall in downtown Moorhead, a project she hopes will become a hub for immigrant-owned businesses and community gathering. She talked to MPR News host Nina Moini in front of an audience at the Moorhead Public Library about her own experience coming to the United States more than 20 years ago. At that time, she learned that her nursing credentials did not transfer to the professional world in the Red River Valley. That experience sparked her passion to help others settle in the region.