Innovative Microloan Product to Ease Pathway to Citizenship for Immigrants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2011

Contact: Susana Flores, CASA de Maryland
(240) 706-2624; sflores@casamd.org
http://www.casademaryland.org
David Roskin, Citi Community Development
(212) 559-4767; david.roskin@citi.com
http://www.citicommunitydevelopment.org

CASA de Maryland and Citi Lead Pilot Initiative to Make Naturalization Costs More Manageable While Building Credit and Seeding Savings Accounts

Langley Park, MD (November 1, 2011) – Today, Citi Community Development and CASA de Maryland (CASA) launched an innovative microloan program for legal permanent residents (LPRs) seeking to become naturalized citizens.  CASA will collaborate with two community development financial institutions (CDFI’s) — the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) and the Ethiopian Community Development Council Enterprise Development Group (EDG) — to launch and test the innovative citizenship microloan program that will lower the financial barriers to naturalization while simultaneously building an individual’s credit and financial literacy.

The loan program is the latest addition to a set of naturalization services available through Citizenship Maryland, a wrap-around comprehensive effort led by CASA and participated in by partner AmeriCorps volunteer host organizations that seek to support the hundreds of thousands of eligible legal permanent residents in Maryland become citizens.

“Our state and our nation have a great deal to gain by embracing new Americans and supporting their efforts to contribute to our society and economy,” said Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, whose parents immigrated to America to start new lives and achieve their dreams. “Decreasing the financial burden for immigrants who wish to become naturalized citizens will help them improve their families’ lives and enrich their communities. It is exciting that this innovative program is being piloted right here in Maryland.”

 

Blog Post: Nizam Ali, LEDC, and Comprehensive Immigration Reform

In anticipation of this Sunday’s march for comprehensive immigration reform, we’re re-posting the January 2010 testimony of small business owner Nizam Ali, the co-owner of DC’s historic Ben’s Chili Bowl, in support of comprehensive immigration reform. A growing number of small businesses are joining Nizam, and LEDC is actively supporting immigrant business owners and the many small businesses in the DC metro area that are sustained by the purchases of immigrants and through the immigrant workforce.

Welcome to Ben’s Chili Bowl. My name is Nizam Ali – my mom and dad of course started Ben’s Chili Bowl. Dad being from Trinidad, he was an immigrant himself. If he wasn’t here and did not come over to try to pursue the American dream, we would not all be here today. We wouldn’t have these 51 years of this wonderful place that we call our day-to-day job. So many people love it so much.

The immigrants here in this country have played such an important role in the success of this business from an employee standpoint to a consumer standpoint. We’ve had so many wonderful people work here that have gone to Howard University back in the day, others from different schools – all of whom have worked here to go on to pursue their own American dream. Even today, we have employees representing so many different countries — from Guatemala to Mexico to El Salvador to Ethiopia to Nigeria to Liberia.

From an economic standpoint, there is incredible benefit to passing comprehensive immigration reform. It has to be passed. The system is so broken, reform is so needed, but our business has thrived and flourished in the midst of this economy because of immigrant consumers. We’re a very well-known business but a small business. This economy, the way that it is – we need to do everything that we can for our country, for our people, for our immigrant population, to make sure that we succeed as a country, that the American dream is fulfilled.

The economics just line up – it’s the right thing to do. Without the immigrant population our business would not be at all where it is today.

Nizam Ali, co-owner of Ben’s Chili Bowl
1/13/2010

 

El Tiempo Latino – Impulsan la reforma en 2010

To read the full article in Spanish, click here.

 

50 States Launch the Year of Immigration Reform

MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2010

Contacts: Communications Manager Ash Kosiewicz, Latino Economic Development Corporation, (202) 425-1303, akosiewicz@ledcmetro.org; Director of Communications and Development Jason Berry, Columbia Heights-Shaw Family Support Collaborative, (202) 391-7311, jberry@chsfsc.org

50 STATES LAUNCH THE YEAR OF IMMIGRATION REFORM

In Washington, DC, diverse political, civil rights, and community leaders gather to show how comprehensive reform would actually help stimulate the U.S. economy

WHAT:  Press Conference at BEN’S CHILI BOWL
WHEN:  Wednesday, January 13 at 10:30 a.m.
WHERE:  1213 U Street, N.W., Washington, DC
WHO: CASA de Maryland, Columbia Heights-Shaw Family Support Collaborative, Latino Economic Development Corporation, National Capital Immigrant Coalition, Latino Federation, CentroNía, Carecen, Neighbors Consejo, Local 32BJ – SEIU, DC Latino Coalition, Ben’s Chili Bowl

WASHINGTON, DC – This Wednesday, leaders from across the region will hold a press conference urging rapid reform of the broken immigration system when legislators return to Washington in January.  The Washington DC launch is being held in coordination with events across the United States and is the centerpiece of a three-day regional sweep through Maryland, DC, and Virginia.

The Washington, DC launch, like events across the country, will reflect the broad support that comprehensive reform garners in the business and labor community, faith leaders and civil rights leaders. During a year when most eyes are turned toward the economy, a spate of recent research reports illustrate that immigration reform, by raising wages for all Americans and increasing the tax base, is a critical element of economic recovery. According to a UCLA study released last week, legalizing the country’s 12 million undocumented would boost wages for all U.S. workers and would generate at least $1.5 trillion in additional gross domestic product over 10 years.  That economic message is particularly felt in the Washington region where the Fiscal Policy Institute reports that immigrants make up 25 percent of the labor force, including 17 percent of its executive, administrative, and managerial occupations, 21 percent of its professional specialties, and 27 percent of registered nurses, pharmacists, and health therapists.

“Our region represents the vibrancy and benefit of diverse and high levels of immigration,” said LEDC Executive Director Manny Hidalgo. “From small business owners to high-stakes investors, from office cleaners to medical doctors, immigrants are motoring our regional economy forward.”

A week before Christmas, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security Act and Prosperity” (CIR A.S.A.P. – HR 4312) was introduced in the House of Representatives.  Nearing 100 cosponsors, it is expected to be joined at the end of January by complementary legislation in the Senate.

Wednesday’s press conference is the centerpiece of a regional sweep that includes a faith-led event in Central Maryland today and a press conference at Virginia’s General Assembly on Thursday.  The press conference will be held at Ben’s Chili Bowl, the venerable and historic eatery operating since 1958 on the U Street Corridor. The beloved institution, born in the heart of America’s African-American cultural and literary core, has hosted stars and leaders across time, including a visit one year ago by Senator Barack Obama who had arrived in Washington to assume the presidency.  The press conference will be held in Ben’s backroom, a photographic memorial to famous Washingtonians and U Street history.

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LEDC’s mission is to improve the wealth-building capacity of Latinos and other underserved populations in the Washington metropolitan area.

 

LEDC Supports Introduction of Comprehensive Immigration Reform Legislation in House of Representatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2009

Contact: Manny Hidalgo, Executive Director
(202) 422-1707
mhidalgo@ledcmetro.org

WASHINGTON – The Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), as a partner organization of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, stands in support of Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)’s bill, the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security Act and Prosperity,” introduced today in the House of Representatives.

The bill recognizes the contributions of immigrant workers and families, restores fairness to U.S. labor markets, and helps to get the economy back on track. LEDC salutes the work of Congressman Gutierrez, implores the House of Representatives to show decisive leadership in moving the bill forward, and urges the U.S. Senate to take action now on comprehensive immigration reform.

“As an economic development organization, we are keenly aware that our current immigration system fails to adequately respond to the laws of supply and demand that explain why American businesses rely on immigrant labor,” said LEDC Executive Director Manny Hidalgo. “This comprehensive approach creates new legal channels for future flows of needed immigrants, reduces family immigration backlogs, and protects worker rights. This bill will help ensure our economic growth and recognizes the value and contributions of the many immigrants we work with every day in the DC metro area.”

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LEDC’s mission is to improve the wealth-building capacity of low- and moderate-income Latinos and other underserved communities in the Washington metropolitan area.