State and Local Initiatives
They say all politics is local, right? While most of the debate about immigration focuses on congressional action (or inaction), local communities across the country are the ones who feel the value of immigration most tangibly. Now active in more than 50 communities – more than 80 percent of which are in conservative states – the NAE State & Local team works with policymakers, business, and civic leaders to promote policies and programs that help create jobs and drive economic growth. You can explore more of our work on the state and local level here.
Immigrant Entrepreneur Opens Doors for Innovation and Design in Wayne County
At times during the First Liberian Civil War, young Andreas Browne got on his knees and prayed for the opportunity to live. Now he calls his time in America his “second life.” Browne grew up in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, on Africa’s western coast. His mother moved to… Read More
Immigrant Engineer Driven By a Call to Serve His Country and Community
Kamal AlSawafy was 9 years old when he arrived in Dearborn in 1997. Three years earlier, his family had fled Iraq, where his father, a construction worker, risked imprisonment and torture for his failure to support then-President Saddam Hussein. Now they had been granted refugee status and joined family in… Read More
From Alexandria, Egypt to Charlotte, NC: An Immigrant’s Support for Other International Students Pays Off
Tarek Elshayeb is from Alexandria, Egypt, and came to the United States to attend graduate school at Clemson University in South Carolina. “I was looking for a better education, better work opportunities, a better life in general,” he says. While studying for his master’s degree in human resources, he obtained… Read More
New Report Shows Immigrants in Lowell Accounted for Nearly 90 Percent of Recent Population Growth
Lowell, MA – Immigrant households earned nearly $1.5 billion and contributed $402 million in taxes in 2017, according to new research by New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the Lowell Refugee and Immigrant Support and Engagement (RISE) Coalition and the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce. The report also finds… Read More
Kenyan Architect Starts Over in Lowell and Finds a Way to Repay the Favor
Anthony Nganga came to the United States in 2004 to join his wife, who had moved to America to earn a master’s degree and was living in Lowell. In Kenya, Nganga had worked as an architect. Now, because foreign professional licenses typically are not recognized in the United States, he… Read More
Escaping Cambodia as a Child, Lowell Resident Uses Business Expertise to Help His Community
Rasy An was about 9 when the Khmer Rouge sent him to a work camp. “I still have scars on my hand,” he says. “I told my daughter: This is something I had to do to survive, because if you couldn’t work they didn’t keep you alive.”… Read More
Colorado Business Leaders Strengthen Commitment to Colorado Compact and Call for Immigration Reform
Denver, CO — Today, a bipartisan coalition of Colorado business, civic, academic, and faith leaders came together to promote the Colorado Compact on Immigration, a set of key principles outlining the need for smart immigration policies at the national level that will ensure the future growth and stability of… Read More
Bowling Green Daily News: Strategies being developed to keep workers in area
A multiyear effort to keep more non-native residents of Warren County working closer to home has entered the next phase. New Americans – immigrants and refugees – have higher employment rates than native Americans, and with thousands of job openings in Warren County, the city of Bowling Green has been… Read More
Des Moines Register: Iowa’s leaders are putting jobs before politics
A fresh class full of bright young engineers, agronomists, plant scientists and other budding technologists just graduated from Iowa State University of Science and Technology. These are the young men and women who will fuel our innovation economy and keep farms and other businesses booming in central Iowa, and there’s… Read More
Omaha World-Herald: Omaha, Lincoln, other chambers call on Congress to protect certain immigrants
Thousands of immigrants living, working, earning degrees and paying taxes in Nebraska are stuck in legal limbo, Omaha and Lincoln Chamber of Commerce officials say, putting at risk the “important role” they play in the state’s economy. That’s why the heads of both chambers joined dozens of others across the… Read More
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