2016 Convening Perspective: Q&A with Member Betsy Cohen, St. Louis Mosaic Project

Last week, Welcoming Economies Global Network (WE Global) brought together some 300 leaders in immigrant economic development for our 2016 Convening in Philadelphia.  The convening included workshops to highlight cutting edge policies, successful programs, and innovative ideas that welcome, retain, and empower immigrants as valued contributors to our economies.  We caught up with WE Global member Betsy Cohen, executive director of St. Louis Mosaic Project, to get her take on the Convening, and how the network supports her local work in St. Louis.

Betsy Cohen of St. Louis Mosaic Project in front of mosaics at Latino arts and services center in Philly.

Q: Tell us about St. Louis Mosaic Project.

Betsy: The St. Louis Mosaic Project started in 2013 based on two research studies showing that the region needs to attract foreign-born individuals to grow its population and for economic and cultural benefits. Our mission is for the St. Louis region to be the fastest growing major metro for foreign-born by 2020, and just last month, American Community Survey 2015 data of the top 20 major metros ranked the St. Louis metro the fastest growing region for foreign-born – so we’re on the right track!

Mosaic is a regional public-private partnerships within the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and the World Trade Center St. Louis. The Mosaic Steering Committee, comprised of community leaders in business, government, agencies, faith, and social services, has been key to this progress. In addition, the International Institute’s work resettling refugees and the energy of more than 100 other community partners has been instrumental in reaching our goal in 2020.

 

Q: What brought you to your first WE Global Network Convening?

Betsy: I went to Detroit in 2013 for the inaugural Convening to learn from Steve Tobocman and about the immigrant economic development work being led by Global Detroit and its partners. As this was then, and still is, an emerging field, I wanted to find a peer group with whom to build trust and knowledge, which I did. Through WE Global Network and Welcoming America, I can both share our learnings as well as send a quick note to my peers for guidance on various elements of our local efforts in St. Louis. No need to reinvent the wheel when we have shared experiences to learn from and build upon, resulting in more effective (and faster) outcomes.

Q: What was the most inspiring moment of the 2016 Convening?

Betsy: I liked hearing Mayor Jim Kenney’s take on what this movement means to Philadelphia, and how it correlated to what I saw during the neighborhood tours and visiting the Reading Terminal Market the day before. Hearing from a regional leader that this work is important to the region and then seeing firsthand how this translates on the ground locally in neighborhoods shows how important it is to work at all levels of the ecosystem. It inspired me to return to St. Louis to do more for our community by engaging leaders as well as working at the grassroots level.

Q: What strategies are you taking home to explore using in St. Louis?

Betsy: We saw some uses of the arts to connect U.S.-born and foreign-born residents that were unique and effective. Also, the new homeownership report and tool highlighting the role of immigrants in helping revitalize urban neighborhoods will support us in starting conversations in St. Louis with data and motivation. The numbers are impressive.

Q: As a WE Global member, what value have you received since joining the Network?

Participating in the Network helps us to see how we compare to other regions on issues like housing, refugee integration, or international student hiring, and identify areas for growth or change. Through relationships built within the Network, and gatherings like the Convening, we learn effective strategies and concrete examples of their effectiveness, which we can bring home and share with local stakeholders. Other member regions have similar challenges, and opportunities, to St. Louis’, so the strategies are more translatable than those coming our of traditional gateway cities or markets with high populations of foreign-born residents.  

Q: How do you feel this movement and the climate for this work has changed over last 5 years?

Betsy: As more communities join the welcoming banner, it adds strength to the approach even as national political discourse or our own state political discussions shift. It keeps us on a steady course for progress, and was not as certain five years ago. The momentum of the movement, which has grown immensely since 2010, strengthens our motivation and conviction to change minds, hearts, and legislation. Looking to 2017, I believe there will be clarity at the national level on the incorporation of welcoming activities into local inclusion work, and that will propel us forward even further. I’m sure all of us in different communities feel discouraged sometimes over negativity, but working together, sharing winning strategies, and being a part of the movement gives me hope for the future.

Q:  How does your community create a welcoming community?

Betsy: The immense level of support and funding from the public-private partnership gave a significant push to the launch of our flagship programs that create a welcoming community: Mosaic Ambassadors are individuals, schools, and companies committed to welcoming and creating a culture of inclusion; Professional Connectors make networking introductions for foreign-born job seekers; Immigrant Entrepreneur programs support local innovators and job creation; and International Student and Corporate Hiring community resources empower the future workforce. The International Institute of St. Louis recently moved to a larger facility with a true walk-in Welcoming Center location where all foreign-born residents can receive the support they need.

Guest Post: National Skills Coalition staff join 300 advocates to talk immigrant skill building in Philadelphia

Why the 2016 Convening Matters to Chambers and Economic Development Agencies

This year’s WE Global Network Convening in Philadelphia on October 19-20 should be particularly attractive to local chambers of commerce and economic development practitioners. The movement to include immigrants, immigrant talent, and immigrant entrepreneurs in local economic development planning and strategies is rapidly expanding. And this year’s WE Global Convening is the only conference to deeply focus on immigrants and economic development in America.

Within the past couple of years, several local chambers of commerce, including the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and the Greater Des Moines Partnership, have spearheaded local talent initiatives that specifically focus on better integrating immigrants into the regional economic development strategy.

In addition to the rapid growth within local chambers of commerce, local economic development agencies have been at the core of similar efforts. WE Global Network members at the St. Louis Mosaic Project and Syracuse’s Centerstate CEO are part of their regional economic development agencies.

Chambers and economic development agencies across the country are recognizing the contributions immigrant communities are making to their local economies. Studies of immigrant integration work have come out in recent years that show the many ways immigrants are contributing, including:

  • 28% of “Main Street” business owners are immigrants, and immigrants comprised almost all new “Main Street” business growth from 2000-2013.
  • Nationally, more than 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.
  • Immigrants start businesses at twice the rate of U.S.-born residents nationally.
  • From 1995-2005, immigrants launched 25% of all high-tech firms in America. Updates of this research suggest that these rates largely persist.
  • Every foreign STEM worker with an advanced U.S. degree creates an estimated 2.62 additional American jobs..
  • The median age of the U.S. workforce is climbing, and immigrants are more likely to be working age.

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC), who will be helping to lead our session on Integrating Immigrant Economic Development Strategies into Your Region’s Economic Development Mainstream, has been tracking this topic since it issued a 2013 report on “The Economic Development Impacts of Immigration” that chronicled early immigrant economic development efforts of local economic development agencies.

Specifically, the WE Global Convening includes a robust agenda of topics critical to immigrant economic development practitioners, including:

  • Sessions focused on highly-skilled immigrant talent
    • Best Practices in Skilled Immigrant Career Pathways & Ladders
    • Power Ties: Missing Links in International Student Retention
  •  Sessions focused on broader workforce development opportunities
    • The Immigrant Workforce and the Future of Healthcare
    • Beyond Survival Jobs: Creating a Well-Rounded Workforce Development Strategy
    • Improving Workforce Outcomes through Contextualized English Instruction
    • Engaging Employers in Immigrant Integration Efforts
  •  Sessions focused on connecting immigrant economic development initiatives to mainstream economic development actors and the business community
    • Integrating Immigrant Economic Development Strategies into Your Region’s Economic Development Mainstream
    • Engaging Chambers of Commerce in Immigrant Economic Development: Making It Work
  •  A session on Building your Local Economy by Supporting Immigrant Entrepreneurs

The Convening will attract as many as 300 participants who are deeply engaged in innovative work to help their local communities benefit from the contributions that immigrants make in the workforce, as business owners, and throughout our communities. Past participants rate the Convening as one of the most valuable, fun, and interesting conferences they attend, noting that the Convening adds value to the work that they do locally. (Literally, nearly 100% of those responding to past convening surveys agree or strongly agree with those sentiments).

We hope you and your local chambers, economic development agencies, and business partners will join us in Philadelphia. You can learn all you need to know about the WE Global Network Convening at www.weconvening.org.

 

Welcoming Economies Global Network:

Drawing on the lessons of the Rust Belt, the Welcoming Economies Global Network (WE Global) is a group of regional economic development initiatives working to tap into the economic development opportunities created by immigrants across a 10-state region (IL, IA, IN, MI, MN, MO, NY, OH, PA, WI). The network is designed to strengthen the work, maximize the impact, and sustain the efforts of individual local initiatives that welcome, retain, and empower immigrant communities as valued contributors to local economies. WE Global is a project of Welcoming America in partnership with Global Detroit. Learn more about WE Global Network.

Welcome Dayton in Syracuse: Reflecting on the Importance of Place

5 Reasons to attend the 2016 Convening in Philly

Why WE Global is coming to Philadelphia

By Steve Tobocman, Global Detroit

Steve Tobocman, Global DetroitSeven years ago I paid for two trips to Philadelphia to meet Anne O’Callahan and the staff at the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, then-Councilman Jim Kenney, the director of Mayor Michael Nutter’s Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs, and other visionary leaders who were leading nascent efforts in Philadelphia to better integrate immigrants. In 2009, Philadelphia was well ahead of other Rust Belt cities in recognizing the valuable contributions that immigrants make to revitalizing neighborhoods and fostering regional economic growth.

How far Philadelphia and the rest of the Rust Belt have come. In less than five years after those visits, Detroit has joined with nearly two-dozen other Rust Belt cities to launch immigrant economic development programs inspired by and modeled after those pioneering Philadelphia efforts. These immigrant economic development initiatives collaborate through the Welcoming Economies Global (WE Global) Network.

On October 19-20 some 350 folks from across the WE Global Network, will join a broad range of local Philadelphians, at the fourth annual WE Global Network Convening. The Convening is an annual regional gathering of cities and community leaders committed to welcoming, retaining, and empowering immigrants as valued contributors to our economies. The WE Global Convening is an opportunity to exchange and learn about the growing energy and momentum of local initiatives in the 10-state WE Global region (IL, IN, IA, MI, MN, MO, NY, OH, PA, WI), drawing on the lessons of the Rust Belt.

When WE Global chose Philadelphia as the site of our convening and the Welcoming Center as our host organization over a year ago, we had no idea how timely our selection of place and host would be. The Convening will be held less than three weeks before the Presidential Election, which has become, for many, a referendum about the nation’s opinion on immigrants and refugees. Our Convening will be in stark contrast to the shrill dialogue that has come to dominate federal immigration debates.

The WE Global Convening will focus on immigrant economic development and welcoming efforts championed by local chambers of commerce, economic development agencies, mayors and county executives, and even a Republican Governor. The panels and discussions are designed to strengthen the work, maximize the impact, and sustain the efforts of individual local initiatives that welcome, retain, and empower immigrant communities as valued contributors to local economies.

When we selected Philadelphia and the Welcoming Center as our host city and partner for the 2016 WE Global Convening, our decision was based on the tremendous work that had been accomplished there, including:

  • Philadelphia’s population rebound. Between 2000 and 2013 Philly’s population grew by 35,615 residents. Its immigrant population grew by 59,824 (or 168% of the total population growth) over that time period.
  • National leading work on workforce and entrepreneurship programs by the Welcoming Center, as well as national leading work on micro-credit by Finanta, and the work of several other innovative programs and partners that have helped immigrants integrate into Philly.
  • Tremendous City support. Philly has benefitted from the leadership of former Mayor Michael Nutter, who created the first Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs. Current Mayor Jim Kenney was an early advocate, developing a city revitalization plan focused on immigrants during his time on the City Council and serving on the founding board of the Welcoming Center. He has worked hard to build upon Philly’s track record as a welcoming place since becoming mayor, deepening investments in city staff, language access plans, and integrating pro-immigration policies in every aspect of city government.

The WE Global Convening (http://www.weglobalnetwork.org/2016-philadelphia/) will be our biggest and best with an expected crowd of 350 attendees, more sessions on a deeper array of topics, and the addition of local neighborhood tours. We want to make sure that local Philadelphians understand the importance of this convening and the innovative approaches that are being implemented across the region. We hope that Philadelphians will be eager to connect with city, county, and state governmental leaders, chambers of commerce, economic development agencies, and others from both sides of the political aisle who look at immigration as a powerful opportunity to revitalize cities and turn sluggish Rust Belt economies into high growth, job rich economies.

I hope to see you in October!

 

About Steve Tobocman

Since 2009, Steve Tobocman has spearheaded Global Detroit, a regional economic revitalization strategy for the Detroit area focused on immigration. In addition to leading Global Detroit, Steve has played a leadership role in creating, growing, and launching the Welcoming Economies (WE) Global Network at Welcoming America. This first-of-its-kind, ten-state regional network of local immigrant economic development initiatives is helping to make the Rust Belt a leader in immigrant innovation.

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