Immigrants and Economic Development

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Few issues stir up political debates these days like immigration.

At the risk of adding more fuel to the fire, I'll suggest there are at least two kinds of immigrants any region would want: highly skilled and entrepreneurial. On Monday night a group of entrepreneurial immigrants gathered at a Warehouse District bar in downtown Cleveland to network with each other and others interested in spurring more young companies in Northeast Ohio.

One of the entrepreneurs in the room was Prashant Chopra, CEO of the Open Student Television Network (You Tube for the college crowd and much, much more).

Prashant is trying to raise capital to dramatically increase the programming and revenue capacity of this college television network. He was lured to Cleveland by Case's Lev Gonick and now wants to build an entrepreneurial success here. All of Northeast Ohio would benefit from such immigrant entrepreneurs and hopefully our nation's caustic immigration debate won't prevent them from succeeding here.

Local immigration lawyer Richard Herman, Mark Santo of the Cleveland Council on World Affairs and several others are working on how to make sure Northeast Ohio is more welcoming to both immigrant entrepreneurs and talented immigrants that are in such high demand by employers.

One option is to form a local chapter of TIE, a global network that promotes entrepreneurship. Check out the web site and see if such an organization makes sense in Northeast Ohio.

To succeed in the global economy, Northeast Ohio needs to become a global destination for entrepreneurs, businesses and capital. One way we'll know we're succeeding is if more immigrants choose to build their future in Northeast Ohio.

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Comments

# Submitted by Kevin Cronin (not verified) on Tue, 07/31/2007 - 13:08.

Regarding immigration and the positive potential for our area, here a few other points to consider that may help build the region:

The immigration wave passes us by. The largest immigrant communities still settle on the east and west coasts, but huge segments leave those areas every year as well. In addition to being more attractive to immigrants leaving foreign countries directly, attracting this internal migration is where NE Ohio can gain.

We can be better advocates. With strong local immigrant communities (that include the subsequent generations), our local base could be a powerful advocate for others to join in NE Ohio and strengthen those international bonds.

The entrepreneurial and highly skilled immigrants described are likely subject to a capped work visa level under the H1B visa program or programs to permit entry for those bringing along the plans and opportunities to create jobs in the US. These cap numbers should be increased. If we rally support to open up these programs, perhaps we could develop a stronger, more positive reputation among the immigrating community.