Welcoming Plan for new Americans

by Mayor Lioneld Jordan

Everyone who knows me knows how much I value diversity and equality for all. The idea of becoming an active part of a program to extend our city’s welcome and open arms to the immigrant community, through a proven and well-designed process, makes such good sense for a community like Fayetteville. I promised you in my 2017 State of the City that we would develop our Welcoming Fayetteville Plan to ensure we progress with intentional and measurable efforts to include and integrate new Americans into our community.

Let me tell you how I got started on this journey. In June of 2016, I was invited by the NWA Council to participate in a presentation to Northwest Arkansas Mayors by the Partnership for the New American Economy and Welcoming America to hear the results of a report on the Economic Impact of Immigrants in Northwest Arkansas. The report was commissioned through the EngageNWA partnership between the Jones Trust, Northwest Arkansas Council, Walmart, Tysons and a variety of educational, municipal, and nonprofit partners throughout the region, and also included the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

The report they presented was eye opening, entitled “Global Talent: The Economic Engine of Northwest Arkansas,” and it highlighted the impact of immigrants on our local economy. I have always understood that Fayetteville has a very diverse culture, due in large part to the contributions of the international community, students, faculty and their families, at the University of Arkansas. But I could not have imagined the economic impact was so dramatic. The report states, “By starting new businesses that create local jobs, supporting the workforce, buying homes, and paying taxes, these new Americans are making significant contributions to the region’s economy and cultural diversity.” The findings showed that:

· Immigrants accounted for 42 percent of the region’s population growth between 2009 and 2014

· Immigrants contributed $3.1 billion to the metro area’s economy in 2015 and held $1 billion in spending power

· Immigrants contributed $131 million in state and local taxes in 2014

· Immigrants who own their own businesses generated $35 million in business income in 2014

· International students attending institutions of higher education in the region support 522 local jobs and contributed more than $46 million to the local economy in 2014

I could go on and on about the findings but I’ll invite you to read the report on our city’s Welcoming Plan Website.

In September, our group reconvened at the Northwest Arkansas Council to consider the opportunity to designate our area as the nation’s first Welcoming Region (there are already 100+ “Welcoming Cities”). We heard from former Mayor Karl Dean of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee in a working group session to discuss the Welcoming America programs he instituted in Nashville using the Welcoming America framework. After that meeting, I was convinced I wanted Fayetteville to begin the process of becoming a Welcoming City and to also continue to work with the regional efforts. We issued our Welcoming Week proclamation on September 12 and we were underway!

I asked our Communications Team to help and we appointed Augusta Branham from that team as our project manager. She has spent the past few months working with the Welcoming America framework, interviewing stakeholders from our city, and developing a draft of strategies for the plan, which we will share with stakeholders this week. We have signed on with Welcoming America via a “Commitment to Participate in the Welcoming Cities and Counties Cohort,” to continue to benefit from their consulting and best practices in the development of our plan.

Northwest Arkansas and its foreign-born community are well positioned to capitalize on the economic benefits that come with obtaining citizenship. About 23.4 percent of the region’s immigrant population (13,092 people) have become naturalized citizens. These citizens also play an important role in building an increasingly diverse culture in Northwest Arkansas, which will help to attract more families to settle down in the region and become building blocks for our future success.

Regardless of where we are born or what we look like, we in Fayetteville are united in our efforts to build a stronger community. By recognizing the contributions that we all make to create a vibrant culture and grow our economy, we make our community more prosperous and inclusive to all who call it home. By working together, we can achieve greater prosperity and make our community the kind of place where diverse people from around the world feel valued and want to put down roots. This, my friends, is the city we are all proud to call home, one of diversity and inclusion for all.

fyvgov

The official blog for the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas

City of Fayetteville AR

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fyvgov

fyvgov

The official blog for the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas

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