Authorizing City Council's Legislative Oversight Committee to hold public hearings on strategies to increase foreign immigration to Philadelphia and to improve the immigrant experience within Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, Immigrants from foreign countries have been the backbone of both our country and of Philadelphia, providing critical labor and vast knowledge while expanding our cultural perspectives; and

WHEREAS, The United States is experiencing its largest immigration wave in over a hundred years, and certain cities like New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Miami, and Houston have more than off-set their large population losses with even greater immigration gains; and

WHEREAS, A recent study found that cities with large immigrant populations experienced nearly twice the economic growth that cities with small immigrant populations do, and another study demonstrated that immigration lifts the wages of even the typical American worker; and

WHEREAS, Philadelphia has not experienced these benefits and is no longer an unofficial “port of entry” for immigrants as it used to be, and consequently our rate of immigration has significantly lagged behind other comparable cities; and

WHEREAS, With Philadelphia’s increasingly aging population, and considering the City has lost more population than any other city in the last ten years, it is even more critical that the City implement every possible means to replenish our work force if we wish to continue to be economically viable; and

WHEREAS, While Philadelphia does have some very thriving immigrant neighborhoods, many recent immigrants have found the City is an impediment to their success and does not adequately respond to their needs for assistance; and

WHEREAS, A unified City strategy could attract more immigrants and improve immigrants’ experiences in Philadelphia, perhaps by more aggressively marketing housing and health care assistance, promoting cultural openness, recruiting bilingual City employees and providing culturally appropriate training, and the establishment of a “multi-cultural business action team” or a “diversity welcome center,” all ideas that have been very successful elsewhere; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That authority be given to the Legislative Oversight Committee to hold public hearings on strategies to increase foreign immigration to Philadelphia and improve the immigrant experience within Philadelphia.

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