Forum Touts Economic Impact of Immigrants
Forum Touts Economic Impact of Immigrants
At AS/COA’s forum in Charlotte, government officials and experts discussed how can cities across the U.S. reap the economic benefits spurred by immigrants in once-declining communities.
Longtime Charlotteans can’t help but notice the transformation of South Boulevard and Central Avenue over the past decade into seas of businesses catering to Latino immigrants.
And around those businesses are increasingly immigrant neighborhoods.
Experts say such changes are among the financial benefits cities across the nation are reaping as younger, risk-taking immigrants move into declining areas and transform them into business hubs.
How Charlotte can better tap into that growth was the subject of a forum staged Thursday at the Westin by the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. Speakers included officials from New York City’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the White House Business Council and the H.E. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, the ambassador of Mexico to the United States.
To put things in perspective, Medina-Mora Icaza noted that Mexico has more invested in North Carolina than it does in the United Kingdom, though he conceded the level of trade between the state and Mexico is not as large … yet....
