May Day 2017: Why immigrant labor is more important now than ever
On Monday, tens of thousands were expected to walk out of their jobs and take to the streets for a national Day Without Immigrants strike. The strike was predicted by organizers to be the largest single-day labor strike in over a decade. The message of Monday’s protest was… Read More
A sudden paucity of waitstaff, hosts, and housekeepers has Maine’s hospitality industry feeling the heat this year.
It felt like a bad omen that, at the Maine Office of Tourism’s annual industry conference, a late-season snowstorm forced labor commissioner Jeanne Paquette to drop out of a discussion on the conference’s main theme, workforce development. An innocuous-sounding topic, but just the thought of “workforce development” can give innkeepers… Read More
Chamber Executive: It’s Amazing What Immigrants Can Accomplish
Wilma Cartagena grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Washington state when she was 22 years old, still struggling to learn English. “People always tell me I have an accent, and they can be so dismissive,” says Cartagena, who went on to earn a degree from the University of… Read More
Farmer Creates Local Jobs — With Help of Migrant Labor
Jack Hedin is the owner and operator of Featherstone Farm, a four-season farm in Rushford, Minnesota, that specializes in organic vegetable production. The $1.8 million business employs 15 workers year-round and as many as 35 seasonally, the majority of whom come from Mexico on the H-2A temporary work visa. “That… Read More
Immigrants Start Businesses, Don’t Want Hand-Outs
Elizabeth Cervantes is co-founder of the Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project (SSIP), a nonprofit that advocates for immigrant rights. Based in Bolingbrook, Illinois, the organization caters to the fast-growing immigrant population in the suburbs of Chicago. “About 54 percent of undocumented immigrants in Illinois live in suburban Cook county and collar… Read More
Mental Health Counselor’s Life in Limbo Without DACA Solution
The last time Nidya was in Nayarit, a state on the west coast of Mexico where she was born, she was just 2 years old. That’s when she moved with her parents to San Diego. Since then, she has thrived. She attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, and received… Read More
Bloomberg: “Trump May Not Want Refugees, but Rust Belt Mayors Do.”
In 1997, refugee Alem Boric and a partner started Europa Market, 600 square feet of Bosnia in St. Louis. Today, what began as a corner store in the city’s Bevo Mill neighborhood is a 96,000-square-foot (8,900-square-meter) juggernaut that distributes smoked meats, cheeses, cakes and Croatian jams from the former Yugoslavia,… Read More
The Boston Globe: “The week’s top business news.”
Help wanted: people who can speak more than one language. Even as the Trump administration seeks to limit immigration, employers are increasingly looking to woo immigrants as consumers — and employees. Banks and cellphone providers are hiring employees who can communicate with potential customers in their native tongues. Software firms… Read More
Buffalo Rising: “Unite by Night”
“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.” – William Pollard Recently, a group of friends banded together to discuss the issues of racism, bias and discrimination that face… Read More
The Day: “Does data about immigrants’ economic impact paint whole picture?”
Dominican Republic native Jeffrey Zapata knew he wanted to own a barbershop from the time he was young. At 14, he started practicing. At 19, he opened his first shop in the Dominican Republic — one that his popularity quickly fueled to success. But in 2006, he ran into his… Read More
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