Once you're connected with a social worker, they can refer you to many other services, like legal aid and continuing education.
For being the first and best place for New Immigrants (or really anyone looking for services in Olmsted County), the website doesn't do a great job of spelling out exactly who they help and why and how. It's a government site, specifically a county government site, so it has to balance a lot with limited resources and try to make everyone happy. It may not succeed. You're not going to get to Olmsted County services on your own. Someone is going to have to point you there and say, "Trust me, this is the place". The website is the calling card. It'll get your foot in the door. You want what they have, but it's not super clear what it is. I'd blame politics if I didn't know it's a deeper problem than that. The information on the site is excellent. Everything there is accurate and helpful. It's just not the information a new immigrant needs. They need a phone number and a meeting place more than anything. Instead of doing the Olmsted County website, I should have just said the Rochester Public Library. We have the computers, Larry (one of the social workers) is there every Thursday, and our community corner has tons of vetted information. The thing is, though, those resources are all supplied and verified by the county. The website might not be the best resource in and of itself, but like a good librarian, it's going to point you to where you're going to get the information you need.
