Embracing foreign-born Central Mass. residents
In an election year where fear-mongering and playing off people's biases have seemed to rule the day – we've recently observed a sensible, intelligent approach to one of the nation's hot button issues that is worth noting. David A. Jordan, president of Worcester nonprofit Seven Hills Foundation, got fed up with all the bigoted talk about the corruptive influence of foreign-born populations in America – “Send them back to their countries!” “Put up a wall!” – and performed an assessment of how these people are impacting Central Massachusetts and its economy.
The results of the Seven Hills study are quite interesting, but not surprising. It turns out that naturalized foreign-born residents in Central Mass. have higher incomes, rates of homeownership and workforce participation than people born in America. They are less likely to live in poverty and use public benefit programs than native residents.
Anyone who is a regular reader of the Worcester Business Journal listing of new business incorporations (page 22 of this issue) can't help but notice that the majority of people who are founding new companies in Central Massachusetts on a month-by-month basis are coming from non-traditional backgrounds. In an economy driven by small business, most of the new enterprises are being started and run by people not originally from this country.
While the hurlyburly battles in the political arena have competitors throwing some very sharp elbows, it's insulting when those leaders use the well-oiled cudgels of ignorance and stereotyping to curry votes. Rather than fight the flood of immigrants and send them back from where they came, we ought to re-read our history books – and our family histories – as well as look ahead and see what a flow of new, determined, ambitious immigrants can do for our economic prosperity. Ask any number of growing firms across the state, whether from health care, technology or many other fields, about the strong need to recruit foreign-born professionals, and you'll get a very clear answer. They are critical to the growth of many companies, and efforts to further slow any efforts to bring them into the country is bad for business.
Business people who are the first and best to engage non-traditional communities often gain a hefty advantage from the start. The first African-American millionaire was a woman who developed hair care products specifically for black women. The foreign-born entrepreneurs profiled in Laura Finaldi's front-page “Land of opportunity” story in this week's WBJ say part of the reason for their success is their insider tracts to these non-traditional communities, like Spanish-speaking clients preferring Spanish-speaking employees.
While their place of origin has evolved over time, the foreign-born population always has been strong in Central Massachusetts. Not only do new immigrants to the state represent future employees, they also present significant market opportunities to sell products and services to.
It's time to embrace the region's new populations, not reject or seek to marginalize them. These are tomorrow's citizens, and understanding their unique needs and becoming actively involved in their communities will have a positive return on investment.
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