• 0Shopping Cart
Re-imagining Migration
  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Our Team
    • Our Board of Directors
    • Testimonials from Educators
    • Our Impact
    • Our Reach
  • Featured Stories
    • In the News
    • Educator Spotlights
  • Our Approach
    • Guiding Principles
    • Promising Practices for Supporting Immigrant Youth
    • Learning in an Age of Migration
    • Our Learning Framework
      • Dispositions for World on the Move
      • Our Learning Arc
      • Our Guide to Creating Curriculum
  • Programs
    • Our Programs and Services
      • 2023 Student Climate Survey
    • What We Do For Educational Institutions
      • Whole School Model
    • Professional Development for Individuals and Institutions
      • Learn. Connect. Unite. – Educator Summit 2022
    • Webinars and Online Professional Development
    • Featured Partnerships
    • Testimonials from Educators
  • Resources and Tools
    • The Re-Imagining Migration Toolkit
      • Carola Suárez-Orozco’s Moving Stories Project
      • 5 Steps for Creating Welcoming and Inclusive Learning Environments
      • Our Learning Arc
      • Our Guide to Creating Curriculum
      • Culturally Responsive Teaching Checklist
      • Building Diverse, Culturally Responsive Text Sets with the Learning Arc
      • Using Children’s Literature to Teach the Learning Arc Framework
      • Suggestions for Inclusive Classrooms
    • Classroom Resources and Lessons
      • Moving Stories
      • Understanding Migration
      • Turning to Action
      • Study Guides and Resource Collections
      • Posters and Infographics
      • Listen, Watch, and Talk Resources and Lesson Starters
      • Civics Inquiries, Lessons, and Resources
      • Connecting to the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap
    • Thinking Routines for a World on the Move
      • Thinking Routines: Take Perspective
      • Thinking Routines: Inquire in a World Shaped by Migration
      • Thinking Routines: Communicate Across Differences
      • Thinking Routines: Recognize Power Relationships and Inequities
      • Thinking Routines: Taking Action
      • Social and Emotional Thinking Routines
  • Get Involved
    • 8 Ways to Get Involved
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
    • Online Store
  • DONATE
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

The role of immigrants in reviving a city

September 28, 2018/0 Comments/in African Immigrant Origin, Audio/VIdeo, Civic Engagement, Civics & Civil Spaces, Social Studies/by Adam Strom

For years Detroit, Michigan had come to symbolize urban decay, a formally great city that had fallen upon hard times. Once the thriving center of the automobile industry, Detroit, has lost much of its population. One way that the city hopes to recover is through the energy and entrepreneurial efforts of immigrants. A recent PRI Global Nation news story provided some context, as well as a case study of the way that communities receive and integrate immigrants. The story noted:

“Right now, immigrants are the only growing source of population in the city of Detroit,” says Steve Tobocman, the director of Global Detroit, a group partly funded by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and dedicated to helping revive derelict neighborhoods by making Detroit more attractive and welcoming for immigrants. “Michigan is the only state that lost population in the 2010 census.”

Michigan’s population has since stabilized and has grown by roughly 80,000 since the 2010 Census, with foreign-born making up 6.4 percent of the state, about half the national average, butrelatively high compared with other Midwestern states.

“They are a source of life and vibrancy, and they are creating jobs that help everyone in the community,” says Tobocman, speaking at an Indian restaurant in a neighborhood known as “Banglatown,” a community straddling the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck with a lot of South Asian residents. “[Immigrants] are providing retail services that make this community thrive, and providing a tax base. And frankly, occupancy to the vacant structures that are critical to retaining the African-American residents in the region so that this neighborhood doesn’t fall the way that some of the more disinvested ones have.”

Listen to the whole story.

Reflection Questions

  • What role do community leaders in Detroit hope that immigrants will play in the city?
  • According to the various experts interviewed in the piece, why do many newcomers find Detroit an attractive place to live and work?
  • The voiceover at the end of  the report notes, “Detroit was the nation’s Silicon Valley a century ago, the technology capital of the world, driven — in part back then — by foreign-born workers.” What does that comment add the to story? How would the story be different if it wasn’t included? Based on what you have heard, why do you think the reporter felt it was important to include this historical note in a piece about present day Detroit?
Tags: African Immigrant Origin, Integration, What are the conditions in the new land and how do these shape the experience of migration?
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Vk
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://reimaginingmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/1024px-Ford_Plant_Dearborn_Michigan_73115.jpg 636 1024 Adam Strom https://reimaginingmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/RM-Logo-High-REZ-300x194-copy.png Adam Strom2018-09-28 19:40:262019-06-18 12:30:52The role of immigrants in reviving a city
You might also like
1907: A Shopgirl’s Story
Resource Collection: World Refugee Day & Beyond
What is in an Accent?
Benjamin Franklin and German immigrants in Colonial America
Classroom Resource: Suitcase Stories – U-Meleni and her destiny to be herself
“Home Government Bars Indiana to Mexican Workers,” Indianapolis Recorder, February 23, 1946

Sign up to learn about our latest resources and learning opportunities

© Copyright - Re-imagining Migration. Site by Academic Web Pages
4.1 MilesThe Journey of Your Past: Genetic Markers of Migration

Join Our Mailing List!

Scroll to top