IMMIGRANT

GETTING STARTED2. Assemble a Broad CoalitionOne of the most exciting and important developments among the cadre of immigrant economic developmentinitiatives has been the broad support and leadership they have enjoyed, as well as the number of new actors theyhave brought to the table. Welcome Dayton utilized an open, participatory process focused on community conversationsto include and attract new partners, as well as diverse views. Chicago’s Office of New Americans utilized anadvisory board of 50 community leaders. St. Louis Mosaic is managed by the St. Louis Economic DevelopmentPartnership, World Trade Center St. Louis, and a 22-member committee. Global Detroit’s planning study utilizedan advisory board of 35 leaders and included over 100 local interviews.Cutting-edge immigrant economic development initiatives have been launched because of the cross-sectionbetween interests, industries, sectors, and experiences. Global Detroit’s international student retention programemerged from new conversations Global Detroit fostered between talent initiatives at the Detroit RegionalChamber, universities with evolving international student needs, and nascent efforts at Ann Arbor SPARK, a localbusiness accelerator program. St. Louis Mosaic’s Connector program relies upon professional networks and tradeassociations, the corporate community, as well as immigrant and refugee service agencies.Local immigrant economic development initiatives are strongest when they bring new ideas for collaboration to thetable and when they include a broad array of actors who are affected. It’s not that the faith community, law enforcement,or business community have not discussed the immigration issue—it’s that they haven’t discussed it together. Inaddition to engaging these partners, it is important to ensure that impacted communities also be at the table toexpress their concerns and to understand how their interests will be furthered by the positive economic developmentoutcomes. This means that organized labor, the African-American community, government, the educationcommunity, health care providers, philanthropy, law enforcement, and others should be invited as well.3. Engage the Coalition in a Planning ProcessBefore jumping into project implementation, developing an immigrant economic development initiative begs for arobust planning process. Often the programs that will be pursued are new endeavors to the region. They may involvenew partnerships and new thinking. As such, they may require additionalplanning not only to iron out the necessary elements for theirimplementation, but also to root the programs into the network’slarger context, goals, and mission. This planning process ensures thatall programs and subprograms—rather than growing on their ownwith their own internal metrics of success—are tied together formaximum regional and economic development impact.The planning process should include understanding the data,demographics, and economic impacts and opportunities of the regionalimmigrant population and how they connect to the region’s strengths,needs, opportunities, and resources. The planning process also shouldtake the time to assess existing local partnerships and resources uponwhich to build. It might consider a formal structure and roles, bothwithin the planning process and for implementation and monitoring.The final plan should include concrete goals and objectives. Finally,the importance of a wide array of immigrant voices to a robust andsuccessful planning process cannot be overstated. Those voices shouldinclude small business owners, international students, and representativeswho can authentically represent various other immigrant interests.A robust planning process helps to ensure that specific initiatives are connected to other elements of the completeagenda. Part of what makes the rash of new immigrant economic development initiatives so exciting is that most areWELCOMING AMERICA | GUIDE TO IMMIGRANT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | CHAPTER 213.Part of what makes the rash of newimmigrant economic developmentinitiatives so exciting is that mostare not just launching a specificprogram or two, but are concentratedon creating an entire infrastructurethat will make the immigrationexperience to their region morewelcoming, as well as more impactfulto the local economy.