,uh, the United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world.

According to the Pew Research Center, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country that accounts for about one fifth of the world's migrants.

The population of immigrants is also very diverse with just about every country in the world represented among U.S. immigrants.

>> Now northeast Indiana shares this diversity and with it shares the belief that all newcomers to the region are valued contributors and vital to the success of our communities and shared future.

And so tonight on Prime Time we'll learn more about the Gateways for growth challenge and the work of three Fort Wayne organizations to create a narrative that fosters inclusion for new residents, maximizes contributions of all and gives community members the tools they need to thrive.

And good evening.

I'm Bruce Haines with the Knight is Michael Galbreath.

He is president and CEO of downtown Fort Wayne and we'd like to meet you as well.

>> If you'd like to join our conversation, you can call in with any questions or comments by using the number that you see on the screen as we widen out to proof that Mike is in the room.

>> Thank you for being here, sir.

Bruce , thank you so much for having me here.

This is great.

Lots going on in twenty twenty three but I'd like to begin a little bit about what downtown Fort Wayne has been like in twenty twenty two apparently was quite a banner year for those ninety nine blocks.

>> It was a banner year.

One of the things that we see in downtown Fort Wayne is that it continues to grow not only in terms of the number of people that are living downtown but of the number of people that are working downtown, businesses that are relocating downtown restaurants that are opening in just a general usage of downtown continues to increase.

>> So it seems that folks want to come back into circulation.

>> You're seeing attendance increasing at various venues.

We sure are.

You know, certainly covid and all of that has changed the way that the work environment is.

But what we're really seeing is that absolutely that instead of the nine to five the five to nine slot has exploded.

We have more people coming downtown after work and on the weekends than we could have ever wished for only a decade ago.

>> And certainly there have been a lot of improvements to the downtown improvement district over time.

>> But talk about the idea of Fort Wayne even having a district carved out.

>> What's the incentive?

Sure.

I mean sometimes I like to make the analogy that we are like as an organization that downtown Fort Wayne is like a management company that you'd see at a mall.

Right.

So the idea that there's one owner and they take care of things like how do you make sure that the parking lot is clean and how do you make sure that the advertising is correct and how do you program events that will draw people to that mall?

But we've got 400 different owners downtown and so that's that's a little bit of our of herding cats.

But you want to make sure that people continue to use downtown and a downtown is the center of our region.

>> Yeah.

And that ninety nine blocks the reference is is the the current shape of things but born of a lot of signatures won't have a lot of signatures.

We are a voluntary district every ten years the owners of the property in downtown a commercial property get a chance to vote us into existence or out of existence.

So every ten years there's a referendum and I'm held responsible and our organization is held responsible for deliverng value to those owners.

>> Well, there is a significant amount of connective tissue if you will, between downtown Fort Wayne as it shoots out like the hub and spoke if you will, not only bringing people to but then returning but some of that connection to get to the where we are this evening are the ways in which you downtown Fort Wayne has interacted with two other organizations in the work to improve immigrant inclusion.

>> If you would share with me how downtown Fort Wayne Imani Family Services and Greater Fort Wayne INQ all came together around the courage.

>> Sure in one word serendipity but in a lot more words.

One of the things that that we're looking at is downtown Fort Wayne is that we will attempt a reauthorisation referendum in twenty twenty five.

So we're doing planning right now saying what does downtown look like in twenty thirty five and so part of that was asking some experts to say what do you see for downtown in ten years and one those was the idea that downtown is going to be a little bit more diverse actually probably a lot more diverse ten years from now than it is right now.

And so the question became how do you partner with organizations to make it more welcoming to to a more diverse audience whether that's people living downtown, working downtown, opening restaurants downtown all of that.

So together we started talking with Imani and Greater Fort Wayne and there was this great grant program that was serendipitously do about a onth after we started meeting.

>> So and Imani is one whose main mission is indeed to help bring a welcome sense, a sense of context, a sense of what also connection for for newcomers from around the world.

>> Correct.

And Imani is sort of the custodian and organizer of a larger initiaive called Welcoming So Welcoming Fort Wayne is part of the structure of harmony and that's one of those groups that that I had worked with previously when I was at another organization to look at regional immigration.

So this is a sort of step to working with harmony and greater Fort Wayne of course is the Economic Development Organization for Allen County and it's of vital importance to them to make sure that we continue to grow our workforce .

>> We're seeing some of the results from essentially a first encounter of a research kind when it was the regional partnership working in your capacity with the road to 1000000 associated churches and also welcoming Fort Wayne .

And what the background to the study as we go to this was indeed probably ask ourselves who are those among us that aren't from here?

>> Right.

So in in that role at the regional partnership my job was to figure out how to make our population grow and population grows three very simple way you have more people that are born than die.

You have more people that come into our region from the rest of the United States and you have more people come into our region from outside of the United States.

And it's my thought and I thought of a lot of other people that we better be performing on all three of those cylinders and then what helps to fuel the research into some of these topics is an entity called Gateways for Growth.

Sure.

And that might need a little definition.

Well, nationally this is the sort of a national organization that looks at how do we have policies and how do we have situations that encourage growth of immigrant populations, refugee populations?

How do we integrate them into the economy?

How do we work on other areas that that make sure that they are able to be integrated into society and the economy and it is a competitive process and for Fort Wayne it found itself in a cohort of winners in twenty seventeen I believe.

Right.

And we have been awarded again in twenty twenty three absolute twenty twenty two going into this year and this year we the first time we got phase one of three this year we've got all three of the phases so not only are we getting a professional study of the economic impact and the social impact ,the demographic impacts from gateways for growth and for the American immigration Council which is another affiliated organization for gateways for growth.

But we're also getting some professional help from them and then we are also working on the idea of how do we make Fort Wayne and Allen County a welcoming city a lot of other or a lot of our cities for instance most recently Toledo our Midwest peers have gotten that designation.

>> So we're working on the plan for a plan to become a welcoming city it in the first round of findings we've been seeing them but let's do the tour again.

There are some graphics that show some of the takeaways from the initial research in twenty seventeen.

Let's bring up the first of those now so that Mike you can talk a little bit about just how much of an impact if you will APSA our immigrant population contributes.

Well you know the first thing that you can see on that upper left is that twenty four point seven percent a quarter of our growth here in northeast Indiana is due to immigrants and that's, you know, both immigrants and children of immigrants.

And so as we decide that Fort Wayne Allen County in northeast Indiana that it's really important to our economic future that we grow.

That's a that's a problem that the Midwest has seen all over the place.

Indiana has been stellar in that in Indiana it continues to grow and Fort Wayne in northeast Indiana continue to lead the state of Indiana in growth.

>> Twenty five percent of that is coming from from immigrants as we saw on the other side of that slide the economic impact of of the tax income that is born with it.

It's absolutely enormous.

oughly seven percent of our of our population are immigrants but 25 percent of our growth is coming from international immigrants, which is you kicking out kicking your coverage I think is the biggest .

Let's look at the the next slide if you will.

This is the one that answers the question who are the immigrants in northeast India and any surprises for you?

>> Not really.

I think that you know, it's well known that we've got a lot of different immigrants and we've had some organizations lead the way.

Amani among them but also Catholic Charities has been a force here in northeast Indiana for decades and so we see that idea that they're coming from Mexico, they're coming from Myanmar, they're coming from all other places.

But it's always amazing to me when you look a little further down that top five, how many actual languages are spoken here in northeast Indiana?

I think when you go to a Fort Wayne community schools it's it's not the five, ten fifteen but it's in much bigger number than that.

>> Yeah, I peeked over I'm glad that you did your homework but it's a wonderful complement to the school system and to all school systems who must be able to respond over 70 language 70 languages spoken by families whose students attend Fort Wayne community schools.

>> Exactly.

And that's so impressive to me is that we have so many different immigrants from so many different countries and you really wouldn't know that without kind of running into you know, here's a grocery store that's owned by Yemeni immigrants.

Here's you know, a restaurant that's owned by people from Haiti.

Whatever those different countries are, they're all integrating into our economy and that's something to as we continue the the findings one of them referencing the impact on regional industries tremendously important as you say, speaking about if you build that they will come will not automatically because there needs to be quality of place, a sense of welcoming a plan to plan that you spoke of the next slide show is the one that I want to linger on because it is the one that you spoke of about the entrepreneurial capability and potential of not only everybody but how that seems to be a special sauce for those who are coming abroad.

>> It does I mean it it's a it's a special kind of person that becomes an immigrant or a refugee.

It is as I saw a sign somewhere and it had that said an accent is a sign of courage because it takes one of those leaps of faith in order to say I'm going to displace my family and come to a new new land where I don't necessarily understand all of the customs and I may not speak the language very well but there's some really brave risk taking people out there and that's reflected in their ability to start working for themselves.

It's nice to be your own boss and so that entrepreneurship is something that we continue to see out of the immigrant community that ability to start their own businesses, enlist their family members to help in running those businesses and it's something that we've seen for decades.

I was working in a previous organization beyond the Regional Partnership that was looking at historic buildings and we were able to save an old Chinese laundry that was built in the 1920s.

But in that you could see that there was a history that this family had been running this business with a lot of family members and had provided that entry into American society for one hundred years.

>> Well, and to improve the civic and economic and cultural life around us, the number of those who are presently needing to to acquire English as a second language who are developing that I mean regionally I believe the number was around 40000 but you have a better number within Allen County.

>> Yeah.

And I think you know, before the show started we talk we're talking about your proficiency in French.

That sounds one of those things that we learned in high school is that we took some classes we learned learned a couple of phrases.

Yours was French, mine was German.

I wouldn't want to go to Germany to try Dutch speak very well.

But when people come here they integrate quite rapidly and especially the youngest generation as they go into schools they learn English quite quickly.

But our number right now is that we're looking I think in the new study is more like 7000 but I think that that's sort of a flexible scale because I think proficient you know, I I've played golf once or twice but I'm not a proficient golfer so yeah.

>> What it.

There are some things that truly speak for themselves and a smile is one.

>> Yeah music is another.

Food is another.

Lots of bridges built but crossing those bridges takes courage and settling into a new environment can also bring with it some some needs for some companionship along the way and amany services help immigrant and refugee families and community promote and encourage personal growth fostering a spirit of belonging.

>> And as that is the case, take a moment.

And here is the other dynamic beyond the data on the importance of the study underway right now.

>> Take a look.

I first came in 1997 and landed in Washington, D.C. and it was just an amazing first couple of days or a week right after coming out of the airport.

One thing that really struck me was how fast the cars were moving.

I remember going down the road and just staring at this beautiful autumn type of temperature.

It was cold and it was beautiful.

But I remember also feeling very anxious, nervous, not knowing where I was going um how was life was going to be in America.

There was a lot of snow in Wisconsin.

I came from the tropics.

You can imagine I was starting a new beginning happiness but at the same time sadness because I knew that I loved everybody back there in my country.

>> Sometimes I found myself between two worlds we arrived in May nineteen ninety seven and seven months later my father who was a cab driver was was robbed and shot in place and my mother who never spoke another English or even worked outside the house now was put in a question to raise three young children all by herself I being twelve my younger brother being nine and then a six year old I came to the United States as a young adult.

I didn't speak the language.

I didn't drive a car.

I didn't have connections.

I didn't have a cultural map to use to solve problems and navigate dilemmas.

So I felt very overwhelmed and lonely, isolated.

What should I do?

What how do I start what what to do, where to go even where to go to buy milk language barrier transportation barrier.

I felt very much like being a child and learning how to speak, learning how to eat none of the aromas tastes more familiar to me.

>> I think I'm still trying to I guess find a way to call it home just because it's been hard trying to I guess fit in just trying to adjust to life here has been just difficult to the point where every time I feel like I'm very close then I realize maybe not it was very strange for me.

How do you connect?

How do people connect sitting in a classroom when the class ended everybody leaves the class without really chatting with fellow students around what have you.

It was kind of a very lonely experience, a very surreal experience that you're among so many people yet you're not connected to those people because of my mother I spoke Spanish and of course had gone to French schools and I remember thinking to myself as an eleven year old that if I didn't speak English they would have to send me back and the only thing that it managed to accomplish was that my parents were coming and saying that your daughter has learning disabilities.

>> Imani is peace in Swahili means hope and aspirations in Arabic.

Imani is a place of connection is a place where if I'm going to relate it to my experience as a newcomer to the United States, it's about having that missing connection between the immigrants, refugees or whoever just moved to the United States and offering them all the services that will allow them to be who they should be, who they will be and who what their potential is.

>> I don't know where Fort Wayne refugee and immigrant population would be without Amani because they truly are present and truly care about that population.

They are very good.

They are willing to help.

I feel like if we had Amani at that time life would have been a little bit less less stressful the more involved I get the more money the more I get to go to the events, the more I get to see, you know, people in the community and see the resources that are there.

We give them not only hope we find the strength we empower them.

We play the role of advocate.

We amplify the voices of our clients.

>> They call cut something uh good Dubosc Matobo unitive every immigrant that comes to the US predominantly are here for a better opportunity.

>> The dream is not just American dream is the universal dream I want for my daughters to have for them all that I know out GuideStar Puttock Najiba unitive akal Moudud I do need Septime good price.

>> Uh Amami Family Services Greater Fort Wayne Inc in downtown Fort Wayne all pooling together for a survey underway now results coming in September to understand more about keeping the welcome that out and pointed in the right direction.

>> What what are some of the things that you're seeking in the survey?

The Tekmira Well, not only are we seeking sort of a baseline again of information about the contributions of immigrants and refugees to life in northeast Indiana but also an understanding and this is where we're partnering with Andy Downs to understand the needs of the immigrants and refugees that are here and how we can make sure that we develop a plan to make sure that Fort Wayne Allen County,pnorthet the forefront of being a place-r they're from any country outside of the United States anywhere any other state inside of the United States or any county outside of Atlanta.

>> Well, and we will indeed be welcoming in all of the festive ways that can be defined in September.

>> I believe it's the week of September eight to 17.

>> This is a nice new Fort Wayne tradition.

It is.

It's been around for a little bit.

Imani family Services as has welcome week under their banner and that's one of those ways in which we can help celebrate the contributions of immigrants, celebrate some of the great work that's happening within the community within our community, whether that's advocacy, whether that's artistic success, educational success, economic success.

But it's also something that helps to say how do we present new information?

That's an editor of editor of Flow of Information back and Forth as well as some really neat cultural celebrations.

So on the eleventh I know that that's when we'll be presenting the information of this new survey on the 13th is when the greater Fort Wayne's Economic Development Summit happens and we'll be presenting that at well as well and and I know that there's a concert later in that week with James Sanders and Conjunto which is a Hispanic group.

Well, a lot going on the in September 11 public invited absolutly no no issues there.

That's three thirty to five at the Kennedy Library downtown.

>> What do you anticipate the next steps after all of the ink is drying on the survey report and you have a chance to truly digest it.

>> Where do you go from that point?

Well, I think the next step certainly will wait for Andy's survey to be finished because that's something that we haven't even seen the initial results yet.

We've seen a draft of some of the information that's being packaged and marketed and designed for all of a national level survey but then you start to take that information and analyze what it starts to tell you and then begin with the plan we've been meeting previous to that with a whole lot of stakeholders to start to say what are those opportunity ?

What are the strengths and and opportunities, aspirations and results kind of that sort of analysis to try to say how do we move forward with developing some concrete plans that really advance Fort Wayne Allen Co to make that step forward as a truly welcoming community and for all the time and such invested by the partners and through your efforts over the years, you have a personal hope for the gateways for growth effort, a personal hope.

>> You know, I you know, I would obviously I am somebody that that loves loves a good dinner.

would love to be able to say I can't wait to see a fantastic Polish restaurant in downtown Fort Wayne .

I can't wait to see, you know, a Syrian restaurant somewhere on the northeast side.

I can't wait to see, you know, a Yemeni restaurant somewhere in the 07.

So I think that as we integrate the cultures of the world into northeast Indiana, I can't wait to taste some of that food a lot to chew on and we will do that with all of those around us who are indeed looking forward to making northeast Indiana that much more inclusive.

>> Michael Galbreath is the president and CEO of downtown Fort Wayne .

Mike, thanks so much.

Thank you so much.

>> Appreciate it.

Our thanks as well to Imani Family Services and also to Greater Fort Wayne INQ and all of the information available for them you can find online and for all of us with prime time.

I'm Bruce Aints.

Take care.

We'll see you next week.

Goobang