Global Detroit’s Pioneering Efforts Honored with National Innovation Award

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Global Detroit logo rectangleIn late January, Welcoming Economies Global Network member Global Detroit was honored to receive one of the first-ever Renewal Awards, created by the National Journal and Atlantic magazines with Allstate, to recognize the innovators, grassroots organizers and problem-solvers who are making progress against the greatest challenges facing America.  The awards identify and celebrate the efforts of six nonprofit initiatives across the country that are tackling vital issues, from education to economic opportunity, from health care to neighborhood revitalization.

Allstate chairman CEO Tom Wilson and Steve Tobocman, Global Detroit

Allstate chairman CEO Tom Wilson and Steve Tobocman, Global Detroit

National recognition of Global Detroit and its immigrant economic development efforts in Detroit signals widespread acceptance of immigration as an economic development and community renewal strategy. Global Detroit received this prestigious national award on the 5th anniversary of the beginning of its first programs. In the five years since the Global Detroit study and plan were unveiled in 2010, Global Detroit has worked with its partners across metro Detroit to implement no fewer than eight of the eleven strategies in the original Global Detroit study to help the region’s economic recovery by leveraging international talent to fill regional businesses’ unmet talent needs, catalyzing the growth and development of immigrant entrepreneurs, and building a global region with competitive advantages in job creation, business growth, and community development.

Where these ideas were once met by curious looks, they are now met with interest by peers across the Midwest and Northeast, and encouraged by the support of the Network. The environment to renew America’s economy is being set by Global Detroit and its Network peers. Research into the economic impact of immigrants and refugees is easier to come by, and tangible outcomes of immigrant economic development work are evident across the Welcoming Economies Global Network.

The Renewal Awards celebrate innovators that are renewing America from the ground up despite a na­tion­al sys­tem mired in stale­mate. Immigration reform is no stranger to stalemate, and any type of meaningful reform appears no closer despite immigration’s now constant (and heated) seat on the political stage. Despite the gridlock in Congress, however – or perhaps because of it – local and regional efforts to effectively integrate immigrants and refugees have surged with newfound allies and energy.  Over the last few years, the growth in both number and scope of these programs is astounding, and reveals a strong momentum in the emerging field of immigrant economic development.

This award, an incredible recognition of how far local immigrant economic development efforts have come, honors Global Detroit and motivates its staff, board, supporters, and partners to continue to help revitalize Detroit and the metro region. Our nation still has much work to do to make America the best it can be for all its residents. We hope the Renewal Award is a catalyst for others to work with immigrant communities producing economic opportunity for the entire region by welcoming immigrants and encouraging regional economic development efforts to play a role not just in attracting immigrants, but also in retaining them and in enhancing their role in the community’s economic and social fabric.

Tackling the “Brain Waste” Challenge for Economic Growth & Upward Mobility

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By Steve Tobocman

Skilled Immigrants Offer Local Communities Economic Growth Opportunities

While most Americans braved holiday traffic, attended holiday parties, or simply watched the NFL playoff picture solidify at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 15th, I joined over 100 other committed and rapt immigrant economic development practitioners and enthusiasts in Brooklyn for an exciting discussion on new research regarding highly-skilled (college-educated) immigrant integration and the “brain waste” problem.

National organizations like Upwardly Global, World Education Services (WES) Global Talent Bridge, the Welcome Back Initiative, and the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians have worked for years to help college-educated immigrants achieve meaningful employment in the U.S. Noting that college-degreed immigrants are significantly more likely to be working in jobs and fields that do not utilize their educational and professional backgrounds or simply are more likely to be unemployed, these advocates have labeled the phenomenon “brain waste.” In short, the underutilization of the skills and talents of college-educated immigrants means that economic assets within the U.S. economy and the local economies that comprise it are going to waste, while the country faces a skills shortage in many of the professions for which these talented immigrants are trained.

With an estimated 1,300 immigration advocates in town for the National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC), the IMPRINT coalition hosted a special session and discussion of two new groundbreaking studies on the “brain waste” of highly-skilled immigrants. Despite the Sunday evening timeslot, well over 100 folks attended the session, which was immediately followed by a WE Global Network cocktail and networking event.

During the session, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a leading immigrant integration policy and research institute, discussed research quantifying the lost economic contributions from the underemployment or unemployment of immigrants with college degrees. MPI will release its research (sponsored by WES and The Partnership for a New American Economy) in the spring. The study will quantify the cost of “brain waste” by unveiling substantial loss in economic activity, as well as foregone state and federal taxes.

The second piece of research presented was the “Steps to Success” study released by IMPRINT in September 2015. The IMPRINT report detailed the experiences of college-educated immigrants in six U.S. metros—Boston, Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, San Jose, and Seattle. This first-of-its-kind study is based upon survey responses of more than 4,000 college-educated immigrants living in these regions. According to the research, 22 percent of those surveyed achieved professional success (defined as earnings success and skills success, plus working in a professional or managerial job). Slightly more (28 percent) of the survey respondents had both earnings success (defined as earning over $50,000 annually) and skills success (defined as use of their degree. And slightly more (31 percent) had at least earnings success.

The report sought to identify what factors contributed to successful integration of highly-skilled immigrant talent. The report’s key findings show that:

  • Social capital is powerful: The survey showed that there is a remarkably strong correlation between the size of an immigrant’s social network and his or her likelihood of success.
  • English really matters: Across the board, stronger English language skills were correlated with virtually every possible measure of immigrant success.
  • Immigrants take enterprising approaches: Numerous self-improvement strategies were reported, including academic credential evaluation, English language classes, and additional education in the United States.
  • U.S. education helps: Survey respondents with at least some of their formal education at U.S. institutions usually achieve more success than those without.

WE Global members are already on the pathways to address these barriers to economic growth. The Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians is a national leader in helping skilled immigrants attain the credentials and licenses they need, as well as counseling individuals on pathways to and successful placement in jobs that use their talents, education, and degrees. The attendees at the NIIC also heard how St. Louis Mosaic Project is trying to help local immigrants navigate the “brain waste” problem by connecting them to a business etiquette specialist and working to help employers connect with graduating international students at local universities.

These issues also are being addressed head on in Cincinnati by Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Agenda 360, as well as in Detroit by the State’s Michigan International Talent Solutions initiative, Upwardly Global, Welcome Dayton, and the Global Talent Retention Initiative program run by Global Detroit. Furthermore, the Ohio Welcoming Initiatives—which includes representatives from Cleveland, Akron, Dayton, Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati—is working closely with WES Global Talent Bridge to develop customized training opportunities to involve local stakeholders in skilled immigrant integration efforts. They also are beginning to work with the Ohio Department of Higher Education to further its work on licensing guides.

Both studies are worth a read to better understand how your region can make full use of the incredible immigrant talent that is going to “waste” while employers have professional positions that go unfilled, and promote upward social mobility for highly skilled immigrants. New strategies are being developed locally and pioneered across the WE Global Network to connect skilled immigrants with unmet employer needs.

Success of WE Global Network Members in 2015

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The mission of the Welcoming Economies Global Network is to facilitate the success of the local organizations and programs that are implementing immigrant economic development initiatives across the 10-state WE Global region. No list could adequately describe our collective success in 2015, but here are some local highlights:

  • The Neighborhood Development Center of Minneapolis/St. Paul and Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians in Philadelphia were both prominently featured as model programs in the groundbreaking research by David Kallick at the Fiscal Policy Institute, in conjunction with the Americas Society/Council on the Americas on immigrant Main Street business ownership and its impact in American cities.
  • Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown opened a Mayor’s Office of New Americans (headed by Jessica Lazarin), while Mayor Duggan in Detroit created two new mayor offices—the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (headed by Fayrouz Saad) and the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs (headed by Julie Egan).
  • In June, Betty Cruz at the Pittsburgh Mayor’s Office spearheaded the launch of a Welcoming Pittsburgh plan to build a more welcoming experience for immigrants and a more livable city for all.
  • Syracuse member Northside Urban Partnership launched an alliance with CenterstateCEO that will enable it to expand its successful workforce development and entrepreneurship work with immigrants and other diverse communities in the Northside neighborhood of Syracuse to other parts of the city.
  • In October, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley announced plans to create an immigrant welcoming center for the Greater Cincinnati region. The City of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati have stepped up to provide funding to the project, which will be launched in 2016 by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, a WE Global member. This is a significant milestone in the Chamber’s work to build a more diverse talent base for the regional economy via its Diverse by Design initiative.
  • Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and five other mayors from key WE Global cities (Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Chicago, and St. Louis) comprised a full one-third of the 18 mayors signing a letter to President Obama in September praising him for agreeing to accept Syrian refugees.
  • WE Global members at the New Americans Initiative in Columbus and Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians saw new mayors elected in their respective cities, and are poised to continue their great work. Philadelphia’s new Mayor Jim Kenney was a founding board member of the Welcoming Center.
  • In July, Welcome Toledo Lucas County completed a strategic operating plan that provides for joint staffing of their work between Brittany Ford at the Lucas County Board of Commissioners and Sarah Allan at the Toledo LISC office.
  • St. Louis Mosaic was able to hire its second staff person to greatly expand the program’s impact in entrepreneurship, international students and job connections. A study of local companies’ hiring of international talent was released in September. St. Louis Mosaic continues to draw national attention as an innovator in coordinating a regional strategy to attracting, welcoming, and retaining international talent.
  • The Neighborhood Development Center of Minneapolis/St. Paul was honored in 2015 as the Minnesota Community Advantage Lender of the Year, for its micro-lending to immigrant and minority business owners. In 2015, NDC began to expand its unique work in the area of immigrant and minority micro-entrepreneurship through work and partnership with local efforts. Its work is now being replicated or studied for replication in at least three WE Global cities (Detroit, Syracuse, Philadelphia) as part of a recently- launched Build from Within Alliance to speed up and improve implementation of local micro-entrepreneurship in these cities, study its impacts, and aggregate resources across these cities.

Join the WE Global Network

WE Global Network members gain exclusive access to training, welcoming experts, and a network of peers. Join us to advance your work to welcome, retain, and empower immigrants in your community.

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2015 Was an Amazing Year – 2016 Promises Even More

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By Steve Tobocman

The beginning of 2015 was such a flurry of WE Global activity that I am having difficulty understanding how we accomplished so much. As we launch into 2016, I look forward to what I expect to be a year of promise, impact, and growth. But as we enter a year of exciting opportunities, I thought it important to reflect on just how much WE Global accomplished in 2015.

group shotHere’s a few of the highlights:

  • City-to-City Visits – 2015 began with a burst of intense networking and relationship-building as 12 WE Global cities participated in 6 city-to-city visits during January and February to learn about the emerging work across the region.

 

 

  • Julio“A Day in the Life of an Immigrant Entrepreneur” Story Contest – Partnering with our friends in ethnic media at New American Media, WE Global hosted an 11-city immigrant entrepreneur story contest and published a storybook in February with all 11 winners, including awarding a $1,000 prize (drawn at random) for Julio Zegarra-Ballon, a Peruvian immigrant in St. Louis who renovated a vacant space to create Zee Bee Market and offer beautifully hand-crafted Fair Trade products from around the world.
  • Launch of WE Global Network – In April the Welcoming Economies Global Network (WE Global) officially launched as a program of Welcoming America.
  • PrintImmigrant Heritage Month – In June, WE Global members worked with welcome.us to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month. WE Global partnered with the Partnership for a New American Economy to highlight the historic contributions of immigrant businesses in the WE Global states by analyzing the “New American” Fortune 500 firms—the Fortune 500 firms started by immigrants or their first generation children—in each state.
  • 20150520_105106-2Developing Vacant Property Solutions – In May, WE Global was asked by the Center for Community Progress to convene the first-ever discussion of immigrants and land banks at the National Reclaiming Vacant Property Conference in Detroit. Nine of the nation’s largest land banks joined WE Global and national partners Partnership for a New American Economy and the Legacy Cities project to discuss the opportunities that can result from connecting land banks and vacant properties with immigrants and refugees. This initial conversation served as the impetus for a forthcoming research report exploring these opportunities in greater detail.
  • Plenary 710x375Dayton Convening – Probably the highlight of the year was the third annual WE Global Convening in Dayton in July keynoted by the White House’s Felicia Escobar. Some 300 attendees from 25 Midwest communities attended the gathering which was characterized by the relationships that were built among practitioners. Welcome Dayton did stellar work as our host and the convening coincided with the release of new research by the Partnership for a New American Economy about how Dayton has benefitted from Welcome Dayton and the growth of its immigrant population. 
  • Guide-to-IED1-231x300Guide to Immigrant Economic Development – In conjunction with the Dayton convening in July, Welcoming America released its Guide to Immigrant Economic Development written by WE Global Co-Chair Steve Tobocman (with tremendous help from Global Detroit staff, as well as Welcoming America’s Susan Downs-Karkos and Rachel Peric). The Guide includes 13 chapters to help local economic development agencies, chambers, mayors, city councils, nonprofit organizations, and advocates develop innovative programming that integrate immigrants and refugees into their local economies to create jobs and growth that impact the entire region.  
  • CEOs for Cities, National Immigrant Integration Conference, and other speaking engagements – Throughout the year, WE Global was invited to present the exciting work going on throughout the Network to a wide variety of audiences, including CEOs for Cities, the National Immigrant Integration Conference, refugee resettlement groups, and even a state health endowment. In 2016 we hope to connect our innovative perspective with more diverse audiences of economic development actors, business leaders, and local officials.

WE Global at the National Immigrant Integration Conference

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By Christina Pope

As we wrap up 2015 and return to our work, a highlight of the year comes to mind: the National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC). Many Welcoming Economies Global Network (WE Global) members came together for the phenomenal event held in Brooklyn in December. It’s always great to catch up with peers and take away new learnings and connections at the NIIC, but this time I was particularly struck by a sense of momentum for the year ahead and was energized by WE Global’s strong presence on the national stage. From panel sessions to report releases to networking events, WE Global was everywhere and immigrant economic development was a prominent thread throughout the conference.

NIIC Conference 2015

Photo credit: Keiron Bone Dormegnie, Welcoming America

In packed sessions on employer engagement, multi-sector strategic planning efforts, and welcoming community standards, WE Global members contributed their expertise in immigrant economic development. The interest of attendees in those rooms was palpable; as WE Global members shared best practices from across the Rust Belt, audience members furiously scribbled notes and asked questions to see how they could apply new strategies to their own communities.

In partnership with World Education Services and IMPRINT, WE Global hosted a gathering on the Sunday evening before the first full day of the NIIC, following a special session on the costs of “brain waste”—the unemployment and underemployment of college-educated immigrants. The session and cocktail party drew a large and diverse crowd, one that our national partners characterized as “unprecedented” for an event centered on highly-skilled immigrants, let alone on a Sunday night.

Also during the NIIC, the White House Task Force on New Americans shared their one-year progress report to President Obama detailing their accomplishments in 2015. A core element of this interagency effort has always been economic integration of new Americans, and the Task Force made several key strides on this front in 2015 – their one-pager provides a snapshot of their economic integration actions. The report recognized several WE Global members for their innovative programs and approach, including work underway by the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, Michigan Office for New Americans, Upwardly Global, Global Detroit, International Institute of St. Louis, St. Louis Mosaic Project, and the City of Pittsburgh.

As more communities join the White House Task Force’s Building Welcoming Communities Campaign answering the President’s call to engage in local immigrant integration efforts, the BWCC map is getting crowded in the WE Global region. In fact, over a third of the participating local governments are in the WE Global footprint.

Immigrant welcoming and economic development work is strong and growing in our region, as evidenced at NIIC and by the Building Welcoming Communities Campaign. WE Global members continue to develop innovative strategies at the local level that are influencing national policy and initiatives to tap into economic opportunities created by immigrants across the country. I look forward to building on our momentum and seeing all we accomplish together in 2016.

Welcoming America’s Guide to Immigrant Economic Development: Workforce Development

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Luis WCNP 1Originally from San Cristobal, Venezuela, Luis Oman arrived in Philadelphia in January of 2015 in “pursuit of a bright future and a good life.” The high inflation in Venezuela made life difficult for Luis. He could barely get by with a minimum wage job, even after graduating from one of the best -and oldest- universities in Venezuela, with a degree as a chemical engineer and a concentration in petroleum studies.

Luis’ original intention for coming to the Welcoming Center was to enroll in English language courses, but he has since been able to take advantage of the Welcoming Center’s job placement services to land an initial job with his limited, although rapidly improving, English.

After a couple of months in English classes, Luis needed to find employment and began working with one of the Welcoming Center’s Employment Specialists. He received help writing his resume, filling out job applications, and preparing for interviews. Welcoming Center staff took Luis to multiple interviews and were in touch with him during the entire job search process, letting him know when there was an update with the status of his applications.

Luis with Welcoming Center Instructor Eric Rosenfeld

Luis with Welcoming Center Instructor Eric Rosenfeld

Finally, Luis was offered a job on the afternoon shift as a bulk folder at Cintas, a large company that emphasizes customer service. His department is in charge of packaging the products that will be sent back to hospitals and hotels.

While he is thrilled to be working in the U.S., Luis hopes to someday get a job in his field of chemical engineering. In order to help meet his goal of professional-level employment, he has since enrolled in another complementary program at the Welcoming Center to help college-degreed immigrants re-license in the U.S. or attain meaningful employment in their field.

Luis plans to stay in Philadelphia for the time being and continues his work at Cintas, while also working to improve his English. He has even found a speaking partner that he meets every week.

Why Local Economic Development should Consider Immigrant Labor

The U.S. population is getting older as baby boomers enter retirement and the nation’s birth rates are at an all-time low. Furthermore, as U.S.-born workers become more educated – only 7.4 percent of U.S.-born Americans are without a high school diploma – the demand for entry-level jobs must be met. Immigrant labor is aptly suited to fill this need: roughly 80 percent of the 1 million immigrants who enter the U.S. annually are “working age” (classified as ages 18 to 64) compared to only 60 percent of the U.S.-born population. As a result of these trends, immigrant workers now account for 49 percent of all workers in the U.S. workforce without a high-school degree. The demand for lower-skilled labor has and will continue to be met by immigrant workers, an increasingly important and critical part of the U.S. and regional labors.

Assisting working-class immigrants to integrate into the U.S. and regional workforce is a cost effective policy solution compared to the anticipated costs of having those same individuals not participate in the workforce or working in the informal economy—losing the opportunity to build financial history or fully pay taxes. Local economies that put workers’ skills and knowledge to their highest use and that can best integrate the labor pool of working-class immigrants will have competitive advantages over other regions.

Workforce Development Model Programs

The field of workforce development for working-class immigrants and refugees is vast. Comprehensive workforce development programs, provide a wide array of solutions to break down the various barriers to employment through services such as job coaching, advising, and readiness, English classes, financial literacy, and support services (childcare, transportation, asset building, etc.). The Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians provides one example. The Welcoming Center began as a centralized resource and employment center for immigrants in Philadelphia. Since its inception, the Welcoming Center has served over 10,000 immigrants from 140 countries worldwide. Because immigrants have comprised nearly 75 percent of the growth in the Philadelphia region’s workforce from 2000 to 2010, the Welcoming Center has been an integral component of the region’s workforce development infrastructure. The Welcoming Center’s programs and practices have produced remarkable results, including higher retention and placement rates for its foreign-born clients, surpassing those of other regional workforce development programs working with the mainstream population.

Industry-specific workforce development programs take advantage of developing industry-specific English language training, connecting with a targeted set of employers for job placement, focusing on a limited number of needed job skills, and developing strategic pathways to help immigrants establish and advance careers within the industry. Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United works to improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce. It is a member-based organization operating in 12 cities with 13,000 restaurant workers, 100 employers, and thousands of engaged consumers united for raising restaurant industry standards. While ROC is not limited to serving immigrants specifically, the majority of its members are immigrants and people of color. Foreign-born workers (7.7 percent) are 40 percent more likely than native-born workers (5.3 percent) to be employed in food preparation and service occupations. For many immigrants and refugees, the food service industry is a gateway to the American economy and stepping-stone to achieving the American Dream.

Vocational and workforce English language programs are focused on providing “survival skills” and helping immigrants and refugees achieve conversation fluency in their work environment, just one of the many specific skills they will need to succeed in the workplace. These programs are tailored to serve a sweeping range of participants, including both those seeking to enter the workforce and non-workers for whom

immediate survival, basic English, or the ability simply to talk to a family member’s doctors or teachers are their more pressing priorities. English for New Bostonians (ENB), a public-private-community collaboration, was launched to address the urgent need for increased English language learning opportunities for adult immigrants in Boston. ENB develops new strategies to reach more learners at home, at work, and in the community and reaches 1,200 immigrants annually.

Where to Learn More

Welcoming America’s Guide to Immigrant Economic Development contains a chapter that chronicles the economic opportunities that working-class immigrants can create, as well as eleven other strategies employed by local immigrant economic development initiatives across the country. It is the first guide to ever detail the economic development opportunities and strategies for local economic development leaders, public policymakers, chambers of commerce, immigration advocates, nonprofit organizations, philanthropic leaders, and others who want to build a more prosperous and inclusive economy by welcoming immigrants. You can download your free copy of the guide here.

 

Thanks to the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians for contributing Luis’ story.

 

Detroit: Immigrant and Refugee Neighbors Wanted

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By Sloan Herrick, Deputy Director, Global Detroit

As I am writing this, just a couple of week after the terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut and amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, I can’t help but reflect on how vital it is right now to share across cities, cultures, and countries creative solutions for integration and inclusion–for both refugees and receiving communities. These values must drive our work to restore our cities. To this end, earlier this month, WE Global Network member Global Detroit and a delegation of over 20 Metro Detroit partners visited their Rust Belt neighbors in Cleveland, Ohio to learn about how Cleveland is designing and implementing strategies to integrate and include refugees in the social and economic fabric of their community, so that they can use these insights in Metro Detroit.

Cleveland Group

The delegation from Detroit and hosts from Cleveland at Cleveland City Council

As a national leader in immigrant economic development and a founding member of the WE Global Network, Global Detroit often draws from the talent and expertise of others across the Midwest that are leading the way in inventive and unconventional strategies to foster community and economic development. The study tour included a diverse delegation of Southeast Michigan leaders and national partner Welcoming America and was hosted by new partners made through the WE Global Network.

Jefferson-Schools-Cleveland-300x225

World map in a Jefferson classroom showing home country of the students in one class.

On our tour, the group visited Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy. This newly-constructed school in a developing neighborhood — not dissimilar to many Detroit neighborhoods and other Rust Belt cities’ neighborhoods — is unique because it services all of the English Language Learner (ELL) students in the Cleveland Public Schools. Nearly all of these students, who make up 25 nationalities and speak a total of 22 languages, have been in the U.S. for less than two years. At the Academy, the delegation was inspired by students from China, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world who, in addition to the regular curriculum and the trials and tribulations of growing up, are learning a brand new language, far from home.

Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy is the anchor of Cleveland’s Dream Neighborhood – which is defined by the half-mile radius that surrounds the school. Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman, along with Councilmen Brian Cummins and Matthew Zone, have committed to revitalizing this neighborhood and providing new opportunities for refugees in Cleveland. They have prioritized demolition funding for the Dream Neighborhood (which encompasses 162 vacant properties), and the Cuyahoga County Land Bank has used data to identify target properties in the foreclosure process to assist in neighborhood planning and housing redevelopment. To date, this partnership has resulted in the demolition of 15 properties in Dream Neighborhood – a strong start to a brighter future in this community.

Cleveland Home DREAM

A home in the DREAM Neighborhood being rehabbed by refugees, for refugees.

This relationship between the Cuyahoga Land Bank and municipal government is underpinned by the important role that a private developer plays in the Dream Neighborhood by purchasing, rehabbing, and renting formerly vacant homes. He also employs refugees in construction jobs to teach them valuable skills that can be translated to other jobs in the workforce. Once the houses are restored, they are rented to refugees to provide quality, affordable, safe places to live.

In addition to the work done in Dream Neighborhood, Cuyahoga County Land Bank is partnering with refugee serving agencies to develop refugee housing and identify refugee tenants and homeowners who often struggle due to lack of credit and rental history. The Land Bank has worked with the International Services Center (ISC) to sell 7 single-family homes that were rehabbed into new homes for refugees.

With what is estimated to be over 20,000 vacant properties in Detroit, we find ourselves sitting on an untapped opportunity to create new pathways that connect immigrants and refugees in search of housing with these vacant homes.

In the second half of our study tour, attendees sat down with members of the Refugee Services Collaborative — a cross-sector of organizations joined together to better serve refugees settling in northeast Ohio. Formed in 2011, the innovative collaborative coordinates the work of its members and builds capacity across the organizations; it is comprised of refugee resettlement agencies, area school systems, and community and faith-based organizations. While not a unique concept, members point to the inclusion of a broad group of entities and the level of collaboration, and the hiring of a third party facilitator as reasons for their success. In 2012 the Collaborative published a groundbreaking economic impact study of refugee resettlement in Northeast Ohio, which found that refugees have helped slow population loss and have had an economic impact of $48 million. An economic development approach to their resettlement efforts has further propelled their work and opened doors to new relationships, sectors, and strategies.

In the wake of the attacks on Paris and Beirut, Global Detroit and its friends and partners in the WE Global Network continue to develop comprehensive and streamlined systems to receive, include, and empower more refugees. The study tour to Cleveland left the Global Detroit team and its partners with a strong sense of direction, inspiration, and partnership to navigate refugee resettlement in Detroit and the region. The delegation will be applying the tools in Detroit to develop innovations that integrate and include refugees and immigrants as valued contributors to Southeast Michigan’s cultural, civic, and social fabric.

 

Global Detroit thanks its friends and generous hosts – including, Samantha Peddicord of Cleveland City Council Representative Joseph Cimperman’s office, Gus Frangos and Lilah Zautner of the Cuyahoga Land Bank, Danielle Drake of US Together, Darren Hamm of Refugee Response, and Richard Konisiewicz of Global Cleveland – who made the trip to Cleveland a huge success!

This modified post originally appeared at GlobalDetroit.com

 

Mosaic Visits White House

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By Betsy Cohen, Project Director, St. Louis Mosaic Project

We’re taking the St. Louis Mosaic Project to the White House! Vin Ko and I had the privilege of traveling to Washington, D.C. to help bring communities together through Welcoming America and other national immigrant support organizations in order to accelerate the welcoming movement. St. Louis has a rich tradition of immigration and now with the arrival of Syrian refuges, we have an opportunity to be even more welcoming.

A More Perfect Union — Building Welcoming Communities Campaign to Strengthen Immigration Integration 

Vin & Betsy at White HouseI was particularly interested to hear how Atlanta and Boise are being welcoming. Atlanta is implementing 20 ways to welcome foreign-born into all aspects of the community, including: health care, citizenship, education, and workforce opportunities. Boise has launched a unique, high-skilled immigrant internship program, helping connect immigrants with top employers (think Launchcode) within their fields.

It is meaningful to hear from national experts as we expand the St Louis Mosaic Project. We want to be the fastest growing metro for immigration by 2020. With more than 200 partners, we are well on our way.

Follow St. Louis Mosaic Project’s progress by following the Mosaic Project on Twitter – @STLMosaic

This post originally appeared at St. Louis Economic Development Partnership.

Welcoming America’s Guide to Immigrant Economic Development: International Student Retention

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Skyins-self-business-portraitWhen you meet Xiaoyu (“Skyin”) Yin, a Chinese international student who graduated with a Master’s Degree in Advertising from Michigan State University in 2013, you are grabbed instantly by her enthusiasm, charm, wit, and intellect. “I came to the United States to see a different world,” Skyin says. “I’m glad Michigan is what I found . . . The opportunities here in Michigan are unique. I’m from China. Michigan is my second home. I am proud to call myself a ‘Michigander.’”

Skyin’s journey to her current position as the Communications and Experiential Learning Coordinator at the Office of International Students and Scholars at Michigan State University wasn’t always easy. With the help of the Michigan Global Talent Retention Initiative, one of the nation’s only international student retention programs, Skyin was able to work for Message Makers, an award-winning global event planning, video production, and instructional design company in Lansing, accessing the Optional Practical Training (OPT) benefit of her international student visa during her first year after graduation. She was even a featured speaker in Michigan Governor’s Talent Summit (see picture below).

SkyinAt Message Makers, Skyin provided valuable insight into Chinese markets and customers, as well as contributing to the company’s local work. The firm valued her contributions so much that they paid a lawyer and accompanying filing fees to secure an H-1B visa for Skyin to extend her employment, but unfortunately, like for most applicants, the application was rejected because of the high demand for H-1B visas. Fortunately for Skyin and Michigan’s economy, Skyin learned of an opening at Michigan State University (universities are exempt from the H-1B cap) and after multiple rounds of interviews, Skyin was offered the position. As a result, the University would file a new H-1B petition on her behalf and she would be allowed to continue working in the United States. She is now a contributing taxpayer to the Michigan economy, and enriches her community and the social contours of the region through the network of friends and neighbors she built during her time in Lansing.

The Brookings Institution estimates that the number of F-student visas (by far the most common international student visa for higher education) grew from 110,000 to 524,000 between 2001 and 2012—a nearly five-fold increase in little more than a decade. Two-thirds of the international students pursuing a bachelor’s or higher degree are in STEM fields or business, management and marketing fields versus 48 percent of domestic students. The Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership estimates that international students and graduates comprise:

  • 50 percent of all new U.S. Ph.D.’s in engineering;
  • 45 percent of all new U.S. Ph.D.’s in life sciences, physical sciences, and computer sciences;
  • 40 percent of all new U.S. master’s degrees in computer sciences, physical sciences, and engineering; and
  • 25 percent of all practicing physicians.

In addition to enriching cultural and academic exchange and internationalism at universities and colleges, international students have a significant positive economic impact on the local communities where they study. NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, estimates that their tuition, fees, and living expenses meet the technical definition of an export product and collectively account for more than $24 billion of consumption on an annual basis, supporting 313,000 jobs as a result of this spending.

International Student Retention Model Programs

Only recently has the opportunity to retain these talented international students caught the eye of economic development and public policy leaders. Global Detroit oversees the Michigan Global Talent Retention Initiative (GTRI), a program that includes 32 Michigan colleges and universities, as well as over 60 Michigan employers. The program was launched in 2011 to retain this talent and to help fill unmet talent needs. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has endorsed the program, noting, “The message to international students who take part in GTRI events is simple. Michigan wants you! Connecting highly skilled international students with employers and giving them the opportunity to work and live in a beautiful, vibrant state will help create a strategic advantage for our state and strengthen the Michigan economy.”

The Ohio Board of Regents is not far behind, recently issuing a report that contends boosting Ohio’s retention of international students to national averages would “generate almost $100 million in the state’s economy and support more than 1,000 new jobs.” The Board of Regents is working with Governor John Kasich and the local economic development infrastructure to design and implement an international student retention program.

The St. Louis Mosaic Project, a regional initiative to capitalize on the economic benefits of increasing the foreign-born population, runs a Global Talent Hiring Program focused on six strategies to help the region retain international students. The program includes engaging both the international student services and career services offices of eight local universities, along with the Regional Business Council, to share best practices and identify collaborative opportunities. In September 2015, St. Louis Mosaic worked with a local university to publish a report on international student retention that included seven specific strategy recommendations.

Where to Learn More

Welcoming America’s Guide to Immigrant Economic Development contains a chapter that chronicles the economic opportunities that international student retention can create, as well as eleven other strategies employed by local immigrant economic development initiatives across the country. It is the first guide detailing the economic development opportunities and strategies for local economic development leaders, public policymakers, chambers of commerce, immigration advocates, nonprofit organizations, philanthropic leaders, and others who want to build a more prosperous and inclusive economy. You can download your free copy of the guide here.