Monday, April 16, 2012

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Cleveland must be better at attracting immigrants

By RICHARD HERMAN and ROBERTO TORRES 4:30 am, April 16, 2012

The mayor of Baltimore recently announced plans to attract 10,000 new families to her city in the next 10 years. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told members of Baltimore's Latino community that they are critical to this new initiative to reverse population decline and grow the economy. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has waged a similar repopulation strategy, aggressively targeting immigrants, and with profound effect. Thanks to newly arrived cultures, Philadelphia added population last decade for the first time in 60 years. The strategy of attracting immigrants to repopulate and revitalize a city is not new. Former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell once vowed to push the city's population back over 500,000, in part, by welcoming immigrant families and immigrant entrepreneurs. Most of the civic leadership ignored her idea, and Cleveland's population plummeted to 397,000 by 2010, the second-largest decline of any major American city not hit by a hurricane.

In the recent past, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald have expressed support for welcoming immigrants, but they apparently have delegated that task to Global Cleveland, which does not seem to be doing the job. Global Cleveland recently opened its offices on Euclid Avenue near Public Square to much fanfare. Those of us who worked for years to create an international welcome center are so far unimpressed. Instead of throwing out a welcome mat to immigrants and refugees and branding Cleveland an immigrant-friendly city, the staff at the Welcome Hub talk about attracting newcomers and boomerangers, especially those who can work in the region's medical and biotechnology fields. We need everyone we can get, certainly, but focusing on a highly educated few is not the answer. This timid approach does little to attract the kinds of numbers Cleveland needs just to sustain itself, let alone repopulate and soar. Contrast that effort with what is happening in Dayton and Detroit, where civic initiatives invite a new generation of immigrants to buy and renovate abandoned homes, build neighborhoods, launch businesses and join the mosaic. Global Detroit was, in fact, developed in part by Clevelanders who couldn't find support in Cleveland. The Detroit initiative, led by Steve Tobocman, former majority leader of the Michigan House of Representatives, has sparked widespread interest in the

power of immigrants. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing plans to launch soon an Office of Immigrant Affairs. The Republican governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, now likes to refer to himself as the most pro-immigrant governor in the country. He recently launched a statewide initiative, Global Michigan. Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell likes to go on national television and say that he looks at immigrants and sees a path to a more entrepreneurial, global and diverse future. He is fond of quoting studies saying that immigrants are twice as likely to start a business as native-born Americans. Curiously, Global Cleveland's leaders rarely use the I word to describe their plans and programs. This omission is shocking. Global Cleveland grew out of a grassroots movement to revitalize Cleveland by welcoming immigrants and refugees. The founders were inspired by the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, which helped revive Philadelphia, and a 2010 plan crafted by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland that is bluntly titled, Cleveland Needs More Immigrants: Why and How to Welcome More Foreign-Born Residents. Now we are at an inflection point. We hope Global Cleveland can recapture the community-driven conversation focused on creating an immigrantfriendly city. To do this, it will need an urban revitalization strategy, as well as an appeal to Latinos, the most powerful demographic force in America today. We should welcome all immigrants, even those who don't have advanced degrees. Most of our ancestors arrived in America with only grit and determination. Many of them started businesses and raised children who

accomplished great things. We should keep this in mind, as we prepare to demolish thousands of abandoned but inhabitable homes that could house Cleveland's new immigrant families and taxpayers, but instead seem slated to become urban farms.

(Richard Herman is a Cleveland immigration lawyer and a former board member of Global Cleveland. Roberto Torres is a former economic development director for the city of Canton and is president of T & R Group LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in Latino and international business development.)