Economic Growth and Integration in the Pacific Northwest: Portland’s Hispanic and Business Communities
Economic Growth and Integration in the Pacific Northwest: Portland’s Hispanic and Business Communities
In the final paper of a three-part series focusing on new gateway city working papers, AS looks at the unique dynamics of the Latino and overall immigrant communities in Portland, Oregon, and how business, the public sector, and community groups are stepping up to create an environment that allows these groups to maximize their contributions to the metropolitan area.
This working paper provides a general background on the Hispanic community in Portland, Oregon—one of the country’s new gateway cities for new immigrants. It documents how businesses, community organizations and the local government are working both to promote the socioeconomic integration of Latinos—and immigrants overall— and to maximize their overall contributions to the Portland metropolitan area. At this time of increased national attention to the rights of immigrants and local legislation that casts an unwelcoming environment—most recently copycat laws of Arizona’s SB 1070 in Alabama (HB 56) and Georgia (HB 87)—the Portland area is an example of immigrants’ contributions and of how positive, community-wide efforts can create an atmosphere that fosters immigrants’ socioeconomic contributions.
- Download this working paper (PDF).
- Learn more about AS/COA's Hispanic Integration and Immigration Working Group.
The findings presented here follow a roundtable meeting in Portland, Oregon, where Americas Society (AS), leveraging the relationship with its affiliate organization Council of the Americas (COA), convened local and national business executives, community leaders, public officials, and others to share concrete experiences of how to promote Hispanic workforce development and integration. A draft of this paper was presented at that meeting. While our research is comprehensive, it does not claim to document all initiatives throughout the metropolitan area—our primary focus has been on the work of business and the larger community groups.
This is the final working paper in a three-part series focusing on new gateway cities. In fall 2009, Americas Society released Economic Opportunity and Integration: Nashville’s Hispanic and Business Communities, and in spring 2010, Integration, Competitiveness and Prosperity in the Heartland: Omaha’s Hispanic and Business Communities was released. Through these working papers, AS aims to promote greater business attention to how integration programs are beneficial to both business and the community and demonstrate the social and economic contributions of Hispanic immigrants. We thank the National Business Council of this project for their continued support, and in the case of Omaha, our two local partners: Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber and the Oregon Association of Nurseries.
