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Detroit: A Welcoming Community

L

ast month, as
part of National
Welcoming Week,
Global Detroit joined
Detroit Mayor Mike
Duggan, Detroit City
Council Immigration
Steve
Task Force Chair Raquel
Tobocman
Castañeda-López, part-
Special To The
nering nonprofit orga-
Jewish News
nizations, residents and
business leaders in celebrating Detroit’s
Top 10 status in the first-ever New
American Economy (NAE) Cities Index,
which ranks the 100 largest U.S. cities
for their integration policies and the
socioeconomic success of immigrant and
refugee residents.
This ranking affirms a decade of
hard work and planning that has placed
Detroit among America’s most welcom-
ing cities. Building an inclusive city is a
critical component of revitalizing and
sustaining vibrant neighborhoods that
attract and retain diverse residents.
Through collaboration and true team
effort, Detroit and Southeast Michigan
have become national leaders in building
an inclusive economy that mobilizes our
immigrant potential — bellwether traits
of prosperous and vibrant economies,
cities and regions across the world.
The NAE Cities Index rankings exam-
ine 31 different policies and practices,
as well as 20 different socioeconomic
outcomes, to assess America’s 100 larg-

Arthur M. Horwitz
Publisher / Executive Editor
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F. Kevin Browett
Chief Operating Officer
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OUR JN
MISSION

6

est cities on their work and results in
integrating immigrants and refugees.
Detroit’s strong ranking is based upon
integration and welcoming policies,
programs and initiatives; and the ease
by which immigrants and refugees have
been able to participate in workforce,
entrepreneurship, and homeownership
programs and opportunities.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan noted
that “collaboration between our office,
the Detroit City Council, nonprofit orga-
nizations like Global Detroit, Welcoming
Michigan and the International Institute
of Metro Detroit, among others, and
with residents and the business com-
munity, has enabled Detroit to rapidly
develop and implement important and
meaningful policies and programs that
welcome immigrants and refugees, facil-
itated population growth and made us a
national leader in integration policies.
“And while we are excited for the
distinction among the nation’s most
welcoming cities, we are committed to
continue this progress to improve city
services and policies to become even
more welcoming.”
Several public policies contributing
to Detroit’s ranking were adopted and
implemented since Duggan began as
mayor and Castañeda-López joined the
Detroit City Council and launched the
Immigration Task Force. Included in
these programs are a Detroit munici-
pal ID card, a revised language access

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Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen,
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plan with appropriate funding, council
resolutions and mayoral proclamations
declaring the city as welcoming and a
local refugee resettlement plan.
Efforts by Gov. Rick Snyder’s
Michigan Office for New Americans to
assist professional immigrants and ref-
ugees in attaining their credentials and
connecting with unmet talent demands
in the private sector also contributed to
the ranking.
“Well-designed integration and inclu-
sion policies can make Detroit neighbor-
hoods attractive places to live not just
for immigrants and refugees moving to
Detroit neighborhoods, but for long-
standing residents as well,” Castañeda-
López said. “We not only want to ensure
that city government provides access to
new Detroiters, but also that our work
brings African Americans, lifelong
Detroiters and newcomers together in
meaningful ways.”
Since the Global Detroit study — an
18-month engagement and planning
process funded by the New Economy
Initiative, the Detroit Regional Chamber
and the Skillman Foundation — was
released in 2010, Global Detroit has
worked with a wide array of public,
nonprofit and private sector partners to
build the programs, policies and initia-
tives that have positioned Detroit as a
national leader in the emerging field of
inclusive economic development.
Programs recommended and

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| Detroit Jewish News

Chairman: Michael H. Steinhardt
President/Publisher: Arthur M.
Horwitz
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin
Browett
kbrowett@renmedia.us
Controller: Craig R. Phipps

called for in the 2010 study include
Welcoming Michigan, ProsperUS
Detroit (a micro-enterprise training,
lending and support initiative focusing
on immigrants and African American
Detroiters), a Mayor’s Office for
Immigrant Affairs, the Global Talent
Retention Initiative of Michigan (the
nation’s first international student
retention program), Global Detroit’s
Opportunity Neighborhoods program
and the Michigan International Talent
Solutions program to assist skilled immi-
grants and refugees in getting licensed
and credentialed and into jobs that uti-
lize their educational skills.
Capitalizing on the momentum cre-
ated over the last eight years, Global
Detroit looks forward to working with
the vast array of partners and programs
to build an inclusive economy that will
create opportunities for both newcomers
and longstanding Detroiters. We want to
facilitate deeper investments in building
bridges between immigrants and their
African American neighbors.
Our mission is to spread access to the
American Dream in a way that will nur-
ture vibrant neighborhoods that make
Detroit residents want to invest, raise a
family and retire here. ■

Steve Tobocman is director of Global Detroit and
authored the original 2010 Global Detroit study
providing a blueprint for many of the initiatives
contributing to Detroit’s high ranking.

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October 4 • 2018

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1942 - 2018

Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week

