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August 9, 2016 This webinar will begin shortly. If you experience a problem signing on, please contact the Webex Technical Support Line at 1-866-229-3239 for direct assistance.

The Welcoming Refugees Project is supported by the Office

• f Refugee Resettlement (ORR/ACF/DHHS)

Session Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will:

• understand the importance of welcoming refugees into local

economies

• apply new strategies for increasing refugee participation in local

economies

• learn how to collaborate with local partners to strengthen their

economic development work

Agenda

• Welcoming Economies as a Win-Win

Christina Pope, Welcoming America

• Creating Welcoming Economies through Collaboration and

Creativity

Denise Beehag and Chris Mathias, International Institute of Buffalo

• Building and Connecting Communities

Natalie Cramer, Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians

Welcoming Economies

Welcoming Economies as a Win-Win

Defining Terms

Successful economic development should put a metropolitan economy on a higher trajectory of long-run growth(growth) by improving the productivity of individuals and firms in order to raise local standards of living (prosperity) for all people (inclusion).

The Brookings Institution| Metropolitan Policy Program | 2016

Economic Development Strategies

• Entrepreneurship
• Workforce development
• Highly-skilled worker initiatives
• Rural development
• Urban agriculture
• Encouraging homeownership

Immigrant Entrepreneurship rates

Immigrants power America’s Main Streets

The Growing Movement of Immigrant Economic Development Across Rush Belt Cities

Creating Welcoming Economies through Collaboration & Creativity

Thinking Collaboratively

• Partnerships are key in achieving outcomes and are appealing to

funders

• Partnerships and collaborations can include shared grants/funding,

shared resources, or referrals to maximize efforts visibility

• Our most recent partnerships include
• PNAE (Partnership for New American Economy)
• WE Global Network (Welcoming Economies)
• TAG Consortium (Targeted Assistance Grant)
• The Labor Place
• WEDI (West Minster Economic Development Initiative)

Employment Services Offered

• IIB has been providing employment services for over 25 years
• Recent changes in the incoming refugee populations have forced

us to change the way we structured our employment services

• Earlier engagement with new arrivals regarding employment
• Financial literacy training, personalized budgeting and linkage

with a bank to open an account

• World of Work orientation as a supplement to job club
• Expansion of employment programming funding to include more

mainstream funders

Job Upgrades

Offering job upgrades is a great incentive to get people to take their first job. Some of our upgrade initiatives:

• Offering clients the option to return after 6 months for job upgrade
• Referral to local workforce training programs
• Internal training programs or those through collaboration
• Develop training programs with employers (HHA)
• Creating on site, fee based contextualized ESL classes with employer

partners to ensure retention and promotion of current employees

Building and Connecting Communities

Background

• Accelerating immigrant integration and

economic advancement through education, training, employment, and entrepreneurship

• Served over 14,000 people from over 140

different countries

• Part of larger network serving immigrants

and refugees in Philadelphia

Identifying Barriers

• Education
• Language
• Establishing a safety net
• Access to capital for entrepreneurs
• Business training

Build and Connect Communities

• Entrepreneurship
• Character based lending
• Identifying refugee

community leaders

• Specialized business trainings
• Education and Training
• English contextualized for

employment and continued education

Key Takeaways

• Identifying the barriers that block refugees from becoming a part of

an inclusive economy

• Find partner organizations and government entities to create a

holistic approach

• Integrating cross cultural competency and education
• Collaboration with refugee community leaders is key

Resources

Guide to Immigrant Economic Development

Welcoming Refugees Forum

You will have the opportunity to:

• Engage in special discussions before and after webinars
• Have direct access to Welcoming America staff
• Get early peeks at new resources
• Share successes and challenges in welcoming with each other

http://bit.ly/wrforum

QUESTIONS?

KEEP UP WITH WELCOMING AMERICA

Welc lcomin mingA gAmer meric ica. a.or

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