IMMIGRANT

FORWARDthe fast growing interest and demand for such work, in 2015, we teamed up with Global Detroit to co-launchthe WE Global Network (the WE stands for “Welcoming Economies”), which focuses specifically on thosecommunities in the Rust Belt that are developing immigrant-focused efforts through an economic development lens.Local communities have long been the laboratories of innovation for good policy and practice in the U.S., and theefforts of communities to focus on economic development and immigrant inclusion in a more holistic and integratedway are no exception. As economic development agencies and initiatives look to attract corporations with global talentneeds, expand trade and investment, and ensure that their communities have a prepared and savvy workforce, organizationsthat work closely with immigrants can be a tremendous resource to meet those goals. Likewise, organizations whohave traditionally focused on expanding opportunity and inclusion for immigrant communities can find new strategies,resources and tools at their disposal by connecting their efforts to economic development partners and institutions.It has been extraordinary to witness the incredible innovation being driven by local communities when it comes toimmigrant economic development. While it would be impossible to capture the efforts of every community nowworking on this issue, or the breadth of knowledge they are informed by, we do hope that this guide can serve asa valuable compass to some of the country’s most promising practices and as a resource to point policymakers andpractitioners toward the research basis and practical examples that can support their future efforts.This immigrant economic development guide is a milestone in the development of this work as its own emergingfield represented by the organic emergence of local economic development efforts that welcome immigrants and theopportunities they create into the local economic plans for their communities. These local economic developmentefforts seek to generate greater economic growth, job creation, and prosperity for their entire region and recognizethat immigrant-focused economic development makes their region more competitive, prosperous, and attractive.Historically, the fields of immigrant integration and economicdevelopment have been two very distinct areas of work with not muchof a sense of shared interests. The last half-decade has seen an excitingwatershed moment connecting traditional integration service providers,immigrant rights advocates, refugee services, economic developmentpractitioners, chambers of commerce, businesses, and a wide array ofothers in mutual efforts to integrate immigrants and refugees into theeconomy in ways that significantly benefit regional growth, as wellas the opportunities for incumbent communities. Regardless of one’sbackground, it is our hope that readers of this guide will develop a newunderstanding of what is possible in developing robust approaches thatbridge economic development and immigrant integration.“ You look around at other citiesaround the country that arethriving, they are doing it becausethey are diverse and welcoming toimmigrants. We can have that herein Baltimore.”— Stephanie Rawlings-Blake,Mayor of BaltimoreNumerous individuals helped make this guide possible, but our specialappreciation goes to its lead author, Steve Tobocman of Global Detroitand his team, including Francis Grunow, Sloan Herrick, Kyle Murphy, Beth Szurpicki, Kate Brennan, and RaquelGarcia Andersen. We also thank the number of individuals who worked with Steve and his team to provide details ontheir local efforts, including Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, formerly of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians,Betsy Cohen of St. Louis Mosaic, Todd Adams at Visibility Marketing, Paul McDaniel at the Immigration PolicyCenter, and Robyn Webb of the Greater Halifax Partnership. We also want to thank Susan Downs-Karkos andRachel Peric who provided extremely valuable editing to the document.We hope you will find this guide to be a useful resource in your work, and that you will stay connected by sharingyour ideas and joining our growing network of partners across the United States. For more information, or to getinvolved, please visit us at www.welcomingamerica.org. You can find more information about the local immigranteconomic development organizations in the Rust Belt, many of which are featured throughout this guide, throughthe WE Global Network at www.weglobalnetwork.org.WELCOMING AMERICA | GUIDE TO IMMIGRANT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | FORWARD4