Yearly Archives: 2015

January 14, 2015. A report on our Immigrant Main Street business owners report from NBC Latino: There's a very good chance that the new deli, dry cleaner or nail salon that opened in your neighborhood shopping district is owned by an immigrant. Between 2000 and 2013, immigrants accounted for all net Main Street business growth nationally and in 31 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and the Fiscal [...]

January 14, 2015. A great story by Ted Hesson for Fusion, with nice added detail in all three metro areas. South Philadelphia’s Italian Market has long been the go-to spot for pasta and cannoli. But in the past two decades, a new set of business owners have moved into the neighborhood, bringing Mexican, Vietnamese and Korean food with them. The transformation follows a national trend: new immigrants are increasingly becoming the face of community businesses across the country and, in some cases, a lifeline for [...]

January 14, 2015. Crains New York Business picked up on the population trend shown in FPI's new report on immigrant Main Street businesses. In New York City, immigrants make up, arithmetically, all of the population growth since the city's decennial lowpoint in 1980.* Check out our interactive graphic here. (Thanks to Colin Gordon for putting it on the web.) From the story: New York City's revitalization since the 1970s has been spurred by an oft-overlooked force: Main Street immigrant business owners, whose ranks have risen rapidly [...]

January 14, 2015. The Philadelphia Inquirer picked up on FPI's report about immigrant Main Street business owners, which includes national data as well as case studies in Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Nashville. Immigrants who want to open a corner store, pay for a wedding, or buy a house often turn to a "lending circle." Called tandas in Latin America, susu in West Africa, and hui in China, they offer pooled-risk loans from informal groups with family honor as collateral. Repayments don't necessarily build creditworthiness, however, because transactions are [...]

January 14, 2015. A front page story in The Tennessean talks about FPI's study on immigrants' role in Main Street businesses. The report has data about immigrant entrepreneurship around the country, and includes case studies from three metro areas: Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Nashville. Here's the lede: When Nashville voters rejected a 2009 referendum that would have banned government officials from using non-English languages in their work, they sent a message that the city welcomed its immigrant community. Years later, their vote also would prove [...]

January 13, 2015. The Wall Street Journal features FPI's new report on Immigrant Main Street business owners: In the U.S. from 2000 to 2013, including in 31 of the 50 largest metro areas, immigrants accounted for all the growth in so-called Main Street businesses, according to a new study based on analysis of census data. Such firms are grouped in three categories: lodging and food, retail and neighborhood services such as dry cleaning and beauty salons. Immigrants made up nearly one out of three owners [...]

January 6, 2015. FPI's Immigration Research Initiative David Dyssegaard Kallick was asked to contribute to the New York Times feature, Room for Debate. In the entry, he countered a report that was the focus of the discussion, arguing: To say all of the net gain in employment since 2007 has gone to immigrants, as a recent backgrounder from the Center for Immigration Studies does, is a strained interpretation of the facts, not to mention an odd way to spin positive economic results as something vaguely [...]