Nonprofit Minneapolis publisher brings immigrant voices to the page

Kathy Seipp noticed one of her fourth graders at Lakeview Elementary in Robbinsdale was having trouble adjusting to his new school.

Gabe Mandley had recently moved to Minnesota from North Carolina and would tell his teacher that he was unsure if he liked his new home. But when Seipp introduced a large collection of books at the beginning of the year for her students to borrow and read, the 10-year-old found comfort in one of the stories from a local publisher.

"Gabe was obsessed with the book," Seipp said. "He carried it around all the time."

Green Card Voices publishes first-person accounts from immigrants. Seipp supports and volunteers with the Minneapolis-based publisher, and she said its books and stories open the door for new discussions in her classroom.

The organization's original goal upon starting in 2013 was to provide a digital platform to share the experiences of immigrants, executive director Tea Rozman said.

"We're trying to make sure that people connect to people who happen to be immigrants," Rozman said.

Green Card Voices' first foray into publishing books was in 2015, when it created six anthologies for children filled with first-person stories from immigrants living in the Twin Cities and other areas.

"We're all about innovation," Rozman said. "And it was really well-received."

Now Green Card Voices has recorded stories from more than 500 immigrants and refugees who migrated from more than 140 countries and now live in seven different states, including Minnesota. In addition to books for children and adults, Green Card Voices also produces a podcast, YouTube videos and even created a conversation card game that once garnered U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's attention.

A new bilingual graphic novel series — in Spanish-English and Arabic-English editions — has been a strong seller, with about 4,000 copies sold since the first volume came out last year.

"It's really important to have a diverse reflection of a diverse group of people," said Aaliyah Hannah, finance and operations director of Green Card Voices. "That's why with our adult books, we have stories of entrepreneurs, we have stories of STEM professionals, to show that immigrants and refugees are not a monolithic group."

The company's 12 books have sold more than 55,000 copies and generated more than $500,000 in sales. Green Card Voices is a relatively young nonprofit publisher in the region, sustaining on a combination of profits from sales and grants.

Grants also helped launch the publisher at the start — along with crowdfunding — as Rozman said finding a profitable business model was difficult. The total revenue from book sales doesn't offset the cost it takes to produce them.

But the need to represent and tell the stories of immigrant populations in the Twin Cities created an immediate demand for the resources and books.

"Everybody was just incredibly excited to see recent immigrants and refugees published," Rozman said.

To market their books to the public, Hannah said leaders frequently attend educational conferences and have held more than 100 book readings. They are also working to build a newsletter and social media presence to develop their existing group of supporters.

Around 70% of the publisher's buyers are schools and libraries.

"​​Our classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse," Rozman said. "We always know that the way a student engages with content is if they see themselves represented in the content. That's very important. So that's another reason why teachers really like our books."

The new graphic novel "Voice for Refuge," published in May, is the story of Minneapolis resident Zaynab Abdi, who lived in Somalia and Yemen before fleeing to Egypt and the U.S. The novel is written in Arabic and English and tells the story of Abdi's leadership and advocacy for refugees.

That's one of the books Seipp's student gravitated to, since his mom also fled Somalia through Yemen before coming to the U.S. The 10-year-old also connected to Abdi's activism, a quality Seipp has noticed in him.

In January, state Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, invited Seipp and some of her students to testify in front of the Education Finance Committee. Seipp recalled how Mandley spoke of needing better safety in schools, free lunches for children and increased pay for teachers.

Mandley dreams of being a Supreme Court justice like Thurgood Marshall so he can make the world a better place.

"He already is this activist at 10," Seipp said. "I think those books inspired him to just keep pushing."