Alhassan Ahmed

Alhassan Ahmed is a skills development specialist with Minnesota State Operated Community Services. In this role, he provides residential services for people with disabilities and is responsible for assessing client needs, implementing programs, communicating with team members, and evaluating and documenting outcomes. 

 

Ahmed received his individualized degree with a focus on human services from Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, Minn. Prior to joining the Department of Human Services in 2012, Ahmed worked in Sheraton Hotels and Hammer Residences after he permanently arrived in the United States. 

 

In Nigeria, he attended college before working at a large German international development organization. Because this organization partnered with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, Ahmed was able to see first-hand the plight of people displaced by war, and other ethnic tribal and religious conflicts in Africa. For several years, he worked with refugees in Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

 

He arrived to the U.S. in 2011 and said he remembers the uncertainty and difficulty of leaving everything and everyone behind to move to a new country. Despite his difficult transition, Ahmed is proud to be living in Minnesota. “It’s very welcoming,” he said. “People just say ‘What do you need? How can we help? I love it. It has completely changed me.” 

 

Now, through work, he said he is proud to give people with disabilities the ability to live life to the fullest by to successfully integrate into their communities.