Welcome Dayton wants to build on city’s diversityWebsite, jobs event and staffing for immigrant program in place soon.

Continuing coverage Immigration BYLINE:    Jeremy P. Kelley Staff Writer

DATE: December 18, 2011 PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Local PAGE: B1

DAYTON — The Welcome Dayton plan to become an immigrant-friendly city is considered revolutionary by some, given the anti-immigration laws passed recently in other states. But Tom Wahlrab, one of the coordinators of the plan, said the city has spent the past 10 weeks trying not to reinvent the wheel. Instead, a task force of city employees and plan authors is doing a best-practices inventory of what businesses and community groups are already doing to help integrate immigrants.

“This is not new … so we want to ask all the banks what they’re doing. Ask the hospitals, the churches, all the educational institutions,” said Wahlrab, chairman of the city’s Human Relations Council. “And let’s create the catalogue, the map of what’s currently being done, and put it out on the Internet, so … we can all learn from each other.”

Wahlrab said the task force has already heard back from a variety of different groups, including representatives from the Dayton Metro Library, Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Diabetes Day-ton and the Ahiska Turkish American Community Center.

Involving so many different groups is important because different industries may face different challenges in helping immigrants. For banks the hurdle could be documents, for schools it could be language, for churches it could be culture.

“They all have their piece of it, and it all needs to make up a whole so these people do feel comfortable and part of the citizenry,” Wahlrab said.

Courtroom 5 at Dayton’s federal building was filled with people becoming U.S. citizens on Thursday, as 52 immigrants from 19 countries took the oath of citizenship. As immigrants from nearly every corner of the world — Cambodia, Canada, Venezuela, Germany, Sudan — stood and introduced themselves, Judge Thomas Rose told each one, “Welcome.”

When Ukraine native and Centerville resident Valery Martinov was asked what helped him adjust to the United States when he first arrived 10 years ago, he said the key was friendly, welcoming people.

Martinov, who became a citizen Thursday along with his wife, Alla, said the adjustment was difficult at first because of big differences between Russia and the United States. But he thought Dayton’s welcoming policy could draw more people from his home country.

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Dieudonne Nsabimana became a U.S. citizen Thursday, but he’s already been helping fellow immigrants from his homeland of Burundi adjust to this country. He’s president of the local Burundian Cultural and Education Association, and said he had heard of the Welcome Dayton plan.

Nsabimana of Kettering said his cultural adjustment to the United States was easier because his wife is American. But other hurdles remain. Like many Americans, he has found work, but not jobs to match his degree in business management.

“Anybody who is new here has to get help,” he said. “We’re trying to get involved in the community … but I know other immigrants who come here and the biggest trouble they have is speaking the language so they can get a job.”

That type of concern leads to some of the more concrete ideas of the Welcome Dayton plan.

Wahlrab said the city hopes to partner with the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce on a job-match event.

Chamber Vice President Chris Kershner said his organization already has a minority business partnership effort that works with both employers and the local work force. “If we can leverage the region’s talents to help this immigrant-friendly policy, we’d love to do that,” Kershner said.

Other tangible steps of Welcome Dayton include plans to hire a part-time staffer and a social work intern by January to coordinate city efforts. Wahlrab said a Welcome Dayton website should be launched by Jan. 1. He had hoped to have the city ordinance creating a Welcome Dayton committee prepared by this month, but now says City Commission may see that in January.

LaShea Smith, Dayton’s director of recreation and youth services, has been tasked with creating a local soccer tournament for next fall, with teams representing their respective home nations. She said the American Friends Service Committee had a somewhat similar event, and the city will try to build on it.

Wahlrab said the task force is researching things like what languages to include on Welcome Day-ton signage for the airport and how to proceed with any type of municipal ID card.

The group is cataloguing agencies that teach English as a second language, but he said Welcome Day-ton’s call for better translation services might even be helped by technology, given the translation applications on new smart phones and tablets. “We’ve gotten the publicity and we have an extremely detailed and interesting plan, but we’ve got to show substance and a lot of heart,” Wahlrab said. “I think we’re doing that.

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… The city has to maintain its momentum in implementing the aspects of the plan. They need to maintain focus on it and they’ve got to show some progress.”

Let’s discuss: Welcoming immigrantsLOOKING FOR SOLUTIONSAssociate Editor

BYLINE:    Ron Rollins DATE: December 11, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH) SECTION: Ideas & Voices

PAGE: A18

Everyone’s invited. That’s the word the city of Dayton is putting out to the nation, and the world, in a new program that’s getting considerable media attention. The “Welcome Dayton” plan adopted in October attempts to create an immigrant-friendly image and atmosphere that will make people want to move in and settle. The plan goes against the grain of much immigrant policy in the United States these days, even to the point of directing police officers to ask about or check immigration status only for people suspected of serious crimes. Contrast that to the latest headlines from Alabama and Arizona. The goal is simple: Reverse the city’s population decline. If it works, it could have an impact far beyond the city line; not only could the immediate suburbs be affected, but it’s easy to anticipate impacts on surrounding counties as well.

So — will it work? Obviously, that will depend not just on how well the city spreads word of the new policy, but upon whether it can make immigrants believe that if they come here, they will be able to lead a hassle-free life that allows them to thrive. That will take time.

And, more important, the plan must be sustainable in the long term. If I invite you to my house for dinner, you won’t come back if you don’t have a good time. City agencies, county government, the social-service network, churches, businesses and regular citizens will have to get involved and play a part in this for the “Welcome” to succeed. Our Ideas & Voices team recently invited nearly a dozen local people who helped write the Welcome Day-ton plan to talk about their goals. They see Dayton as a progressive, forward-thinking place that could become a mecca for creative, energetic people who don’t feel they fit in elsewhere.

Imagine the possibilities, if they’re right. Could Dayton really transform itself into a bustling, colorful cosmopolitan melting pot on the population upswing? And could it really happen one family at a time? Well, we’re about to find out.

City opening the door to newcomersCOMMUNITY DISCUSSION

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DATE: December 11, 2011 PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH) SECTION: Ideas & Voices

PAGE: A18

Q: How did the plan come together? Tom Wahlrab: We started working on it in late February and ended in May. We gave ourselves 90 days to write the plan, and when we had these conversations, nobody stood at the head of the table — everybody had the chance to talk as much as they wanted to. You had the same voice as everybody else. This was equally embraced by city government, the business community and other parts of the community, and so what you have in there ... has that flavor to it.

Q: The plan seems to build upon other recent efforts to make Dayton a better place — Dayton-CREATE, the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan by the Downtown Dayton Partnership, the various city of peace efforts, such as the Friendship Force, the Peace Museum and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; was that intentional?

Tim Riordan: Yes, all those groups were also at the table; we consciously involved them in the process.

Mike Ervin: When we were working on the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan, we found in our research that one of the common keys to success in a city is diversity; young professionals and people coming up really celebrate diversity and want to live in diverse places that are cool and not cookie-cutter. The Welcome Dayton plan helps with a lot of things we’re already doing. It would be great if Dayton becomes known as a progressive, good city with good people who want to do the right thing; that would also attract a lot of people who aren’t immigrants, but who just want live in that kind of place.

Phil Parker: I like that word Mike used: “Progressive.”

Nozipo Glenn: Dayton has always has a positive history — as far back as the 1970s. When I moved here then from South Africa, the city welcomed the fact I was running from apartheid, and passed a resolution supporting me. In the ’90s, Dayton had the peace accords — talking peace at the base? I wondered what happened! Remember (former Dayton congressman) Tony Hall? He did a lot of his hunger work here, and helped lots of people in the world. Dayton is progressive — this is nothing new. Dayton is always reaching out to other parts of the world.

Cheryl Scroggins: When we were having our talks, I realized there are so many people in the community who need to know more about what is going on in the center city. I had the privilege recently of going to my first swearing-in ceremony for new U.S. citizens, with a friend from Brazil, and I was amazed at the number of people there, all from different countries, places, languages. People need to understand and learn all these different cultures! This is an opportune time to pull resources from our community and reach out to help the people who need help. It’s a wonderful plan.

Colleen Saxen: There are people here who are dependent on others for their livelihoods, and this creates a plan for them to become contributors, and a way for

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people — from the gifts they have already — to go from being invisible to being active, contributing parts of the community.

Monica Schultz: The beauty of the plan is that it lets us capitalize on what we already have here now. We have immigrants who have lived here forever, who have invested here for a long time; they will be able to benefit from this. Maybe Native Americans can, too. While it’s written with a focus on immigration, it’s for everybody else, as well. Wahlrab: That is the message we need to get out there — that people have value and worth, and that we will do all we can to get out there and help them.

Q: So, if the plan works, what does Dayton look like five or 10 years from now?

Riordan: What I see is a lot of institutions and organizations being able to deal even better with immigrants; I see us growing in population; I see us demonstrating that we are friendly, defined as an immigrant-friendly community. I think we also will experience more entrepreneurs on a retail and larger-scale level, and attract more international investment. We will attract people from the refugee level to the international-investor level, a broad spectrum.

Parker: We all know it’s a global economy, and getting more so each day, and we can mirror that in this community ... and all understand each other better in terms of language, culture, religion. Some may shy away from that, but it should be a strength, not a weakness. We have people here who travel all over the globe to do business; we also have people living here who could help them with that, and to connect. It will take a while; this is a work in progress that doesn’t end in five years. Change is happening; we’ve got to be willing to address and embrace that.

Schultz: This can return us to being a community. I want to see children playing soccer in the park, and helping the elderly with their groceries. I want people to buy up old houses and make them nice again. I want to bring that sense of community back to my neighborhood.

Riordan: I love to hear comments like that. If people here believe that, and tell people around the country and world, we really should have to spend zero dollars marketing this.

Ervin: You know, a while ago I went to Oklahoma City to talk to the developers of their downtown riverfront, and when I got there they said, “Wow, we’re hearing all these great things about Day-ton!” They had just heard the NPR piece about the immigrant-friendly city, and seen USA Today. That’s pretty neat — I went down there to see and learn about their stuff, and they’re talking about how great Dayton is.

Q: That begs the question: Why do you think the plan has gotten the amount of national attention it has?

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Ervin: It counters a lot of things happening around the country, like Alabama and Arizona. This has become an international news story. Tim Riordan got a letter from somebody in China wanting to move here. I have a university friend who’s Latino whose mom was retiring and she moved here; she has eight kids, and could’ve lived anywhere. We’ve become an island in a sea of craziness.

Schultz: It’s catching on because it’s so different. A lot of cities have lost jobs and population and they’re all trying to attract big companies. We are saying we just want to attract people who want to live here and make it a nice city. That’s a head-scratcher, and some people are seeing it as an alternative, asking, I wonder what that’s like?

Glenn: I hope it has a rippling effect, that other cities and states say, Why don’t we try that? Lots of states are very anti-immigrant, and I hope this would counter that and they would join us. The U.S. as a whole needs that. My friend in South Africa said, “You mean, wow, America is getting friendly now?” And I was just talking about Dayton. I hope this changes the perception of how people perceive America; that would help us in the fight against terrorism. I see it growing into something bigger than us.

Francisco Pelaez-Diaz: Myself, as an immigrant, I feel more comfortable here now. Every single immigrant brings skills, talents, something to share. … It is a totally different environment we experience here; my perception is that more people will feel value, and that their talents, experiences, knowledge, whatever, will be more valued. That is huge in terms of the human richness here, especially compared to other parts of the country. I get people staring at me because I’m brown; in every single restaurant I go into, I get looked at. But I feel more comfortable here lately, and that is crucial.

Wahlrab: This country is the standard for immigration; we don’t always do it well, and right now we are in a down cycle for how well we are doing it. But we still, by and large, do it better than others. And Dayton is saying, we have learned the lessons; let’s reap the benefits of these people’s experience.

Q: You don’t have to look too far to see politicians talking about electric fences on the borders — have you heard any pushback on this?

Glenn: I’ve been here so long, people forget I’m an immigrant, and I have heard some people on the bus, “I don’t want the government to give money to those foreigners when I don’t have a job. ” …

Alvaro Maurice: Where you see some of the pushback is in national interviews the mayor has done in the media and the questioning turns negative. I believe that setting the example and empowering immigrants needs to be done. This is a country founded by immigrants. It’s in our DNA, and it has turned us into a superpower. We can’t change or stop that, and we need to have a willingness to accept people of all faiths and colors, and in Dayton to remind people of that.

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Parker: Well, I’ve heard from people at the base who retired here because they saw us a friendly community to begin with, and this plan elevates that. I’ve heard from business folks who are glad we’re having this conversation, because the world is changing — by 2050, the minority population will be the majority population — and they realize we need to embrace that. It’s who we are in America. But there are also some people who are afraid of it, and that’s a shame. I have had some people come to me who have misconstrued the plan and said, “Phil, are we talking about illegals?” My response has been that we aren’t promoting anything illegal, but we are trying to help solid, legal immigrants find a place to call home.

Wahlrab: If people are afraid, or have concerns that this is marginalizing them, that is not the intention of the plan, and we need to have a conversation about that. If you want to just talk and be against it, I’m ready to just go on. But if you want to really seriously engage on this, I’m ready to listen. Parker: I’ve had some people who had some fears who came to me just after the plan became public. Just to be clear: A very, very small number of people. But once you explain the vision, they get it. The few naysayers are minimal.

Ervin: I’ve had no negative reaction from anybody. A lot of people buy in.

Riordan: What I learned in this process is that a lot of people see “illegal” as a synonym for “immigrant.” I guess I was naive about that. But that really was not the main focus as we went in.

Q: But the plan does take a kind of don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to the issue of illegal immigration. How much did you talk about that?

Wahlrab: We discussed it and realized some people could accuse us of catering to and attracting people who are here illegally, but we kept going. … The plan accepts the reality that we already have people living here illegally and legally — and both are contributing to our community. The fix for this broken system isn’t in our hands to alter; it’s in our nation’s hands. What we can do locally is deal with the circumstances we find ourselves in and go forth.

Riordan: What the plan calls for the police to do is the policy our department and our chief were already following.

Schultz: I think the main reaction I’ve heard is, how do we take a bureaucratic plan and make it real? In my neighborhood, most people ask, what does it mean? How do we get involved and help? We want to make sure we can sustain this five years or more.

Q: So, what if this really works and we get a flood of new people? Are we prepared to deal with that?

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Riordan: If we had a really tremendous influx, we wouldn’t be prepared. But in a lot of ways, the hospitals, social agencies and lots of institutions are already dealing with this. I think it will be a more gradual thing.

Parker: I concur, this will be gradual. But will there be challenges? Sure, you bet.

Q: So, any final thoughts?

Maurice: I’m an immigrant, though lots of people don’t know by looking at me. I was born in Venezuela, got naturalized, became a citizen — and I will say that the process I experienced, from first getting here to becoming the business owner I am now, this plan would have been really conducive to my success. Change is never easy; if this was easy, it would have been done many times already in many communities.

Ervin: I think people are celebrating their differences and starting to remember that America became great because it’s a country of immigrants. We have a lot of problems and vast inequities, but I think as a society we’re changing, and diversity will be one of our strengths.

Scroggins: I see this as something that can really raise up the morale of our city. The city is only as strong as the weakest person in it; that’s sort of a cliché, but it’s still true. If we can help people who are at a disadvantage and have an important attitude toward them, everybody will benefit. It will bring the whole community up.

Maurice: The alternative to this plan is stagnation. Get with it, or get lost. This has been in motion for a long time, and this is a testament to the adaptability of Dayton – and I think it will be copied by many other cities in the weeks and months to come.

Dayton considers immigrant IDsThe city cites safety, while opponents say it is coddling immigrants.

BYLINE:    Joanne Huist Smith Staff Writer DATE: October 20, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH) SECTION: Main

PAGE: A1

The city of Dayton is researching whether to join a handful of communities across the country issuing controversial municipal identification cards to residents with no other form of ID, without regard to immigration status. “This is a safety issue for citizens and the police,” Tom Wahlrab, chairman of Dayton’s Immigrant Friendly City Core Team, said.

Dayton is in the early stages of exploring how and why other cities have implemented ID card systems as part of its Immigrant Friendly City initiative. Wahlrab expects the research to wrap up in three to six months. The work could result in an ordinance for City Commission consideration.

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The Dayton Daily News reached out to two communities that have established ID-card programs to investigate benefits and cost to tax payers.

In 2007, New Haven, Conn., became the first U.S. city to issue municipal identification cards.

Since then, two cities in California, three each in New Jersey, New York City and Washington, D.C., have opted to use them. The city of Oakland, Calif., has debated a proposed ID card system, but is waiting for completion of a cost study before moving forward.

“This is about safety, but it’s also about making people feel welcome,” Chisara N. Asomugha, New Haven’s Community Services Administrator, said. “Challenges will always be made.”

The need for the card surfaced in New Haven in 2005 when immigrants, lacking ID to open bank accounts, were routinely profiled for theft on payday. Junta for Progressive Action Inc. — a nonprofit serving low-income immigrant communities in New Haven — called on students at Yale University Law School to verify whether the city could legally issue the cards.

More than 12,000 cards, available to all residents, have been issued to date. One community bank has agreed to accept the city ID as a primary source of identification. The ID also serves as a library card, school ID for children, provides access to beaches and provides discounts at some area businesses.

Asomugha said the city spent about $4,000 on a consultant to study the feasibility of the program and an additional $10,000 to roll it out. New Haven charges $10 for an adult ID and $5 for children.

During the first weeks of the program, the city processed upward of 300 to 500 applications per day with lines wrapping around City Hall and residents waiting hours for an opportunity to obtain an Elm City Resident Card, referring to the city’s nickname. Just 1,000 cards were issued in 2010.

Lisa Wilson, New Haven’s registrar of vital statistics, said the cards are similar in size to a hotel key card. She said the cards are not accepted for anything that you would want to make a fake ID for, so there aren’t a lot of security features.

“It’s not like you can walk into a bar and use it,” she said.

Dayton resident Andy Espino, a first-generation Mexican-American, believes a city ID card is a much needed move in the right direction here.

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“This is a heart-felt issue for me,” Espino said. “I’ve had relatives who have had to travel to Detroit and Indianapolis, just to get an ID card.”

Espino, who works at an after-school program at Ruskin Elementary School for East End Community Services, said police don’t always accept the matrícula consular, an ID issued by the Mexican consulate.

“Having a city ID card would give a lot of immigrants a sense of security,” he said. “They could walk along the street and not fear being stopped by police.”

The cards have drawn criticism from those who say they coddle illegal immigrants. Steve Savi, founder of the Cleveland-based, Ohio Jobs and Justice PAC, said failure to ask immigration status is a lot like a “Don’t ask. Don’t tell” policy.

“It’s the same thing as a wink and a nod. These people are violating the law and they know they are violating the law,” Savi said. After the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed legislation to issue city ID cards in 2007, it fell to Karen Hong Yee, director of the Office of County Clerk, to design a system with built-in safety features to shield against fraud and counterfeiting. “We did a lot of vetting of worst-case scenarios,” Hong Yee said. “My card is more secure than a driver’s license.”

Development took more than a year. The cost to get the system up and running came in at $538,000 for software development, software, hardware and staff training. Maintenance costs run about $70,000 yearly, which doesn’t include the salaries of three clerks who issue the cards.

Applicants are charged a $15 fee for an adult card and $5 for children under 14, senior citizens and low-income residents. To make the program self-sufficient, the cost of the card would have to about $75 each, Hong Yee said.

The SF City ID Card system includes biometric facial recognition software, to ensure the same individual doesn’t apply twice under different names.

The polycarbonate card, unbreakable glass, includes laser images that change depending on the tilt of the card and personal information is engraved with an irreversible laser. “The cards have never been challenged in court or otherwise,” Hong Yee said. As in New Haven, applicants daily surrounded the building during the first month of issuance.

“They started arriving earlier and earlier, coming at 6 a.m., then 3 a.m.,” Hong Yee said. “We changed to an appointment system after the first month.”

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As a sanctuary city, San Francisco doesn’t ask immigration status, but in New Haven applicants are required to provide proof of identity and residence.

“Nobody is undocumented. Everybody has documents somewhere,” Hong Yee said. “If you walk in here with nothing, don’t expect to walk out with a card.”

If proper documents are provided, the cards are issued the same day.

The card database only keeps record of name, birth date and the photo. Addresses are not kept on file to protect the applicant, Hong Yee said.

Since kickoff of the program in January 2009, 24,673 applicants have scheduled appointments. Of those, 16,922 showed up for their appointments and 12,556 have been issued a SF City ID Card. “The card is not just for immigrants. They’re for anyone who needs an ID right now,” Hong Yee said.

“It beats going to the DMV and having to wait for a card to be mailed to you.”

The card serves as proof of identity for city services; provides discounts at San Francisco family excursions, restaurants and museums. It also may be used as a public library card and as a form of ID to open a checking account at participating banks. Andy Espino of Dayton mentors students in an extended day program at Ruskin PreK-8 School in Dayton. Espino, a first-generation Mexican-American, supports Dayton’s proposed ID cards for immigrants. STAFF PHOTO BY TEESHA MCCLAM San Francisco uses these ID cards to help protect immigrants.

On your mind: City’s plan to become immigrant-friendly

BYLINE:    Ron Rollins DATE: October 13, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH) SECTION: Ideas&Voices

PAGE: A11

To welcome or not to welcome Earlier this month, the Dayton City Commission did something a little against the grain of current U.S. politics — namely, it rolled out the welcome mat for immigrants.

In what the city describes as an attempt to revive its economy and culture, it officially designated itself an “Immigrant Friendly City” and instituted new policies designed to make Day-ton more attractive to people newly arrived in this country. The thinking goes that many immigrants arrive to work and start businesses, and that making them feel safe and welcome will improve the local landscape; this idea has long been a cornerstone of urban-studies expert Richard Florida’s “creative-class” philosophy of rebuilding run-down cities.

While there was little disagreement voiced during the meeting at which the commission approved the resolution, readers have responded harshly to the plan. Today we offer

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some of the views of people who take strong exception to the city’s plan, arguing that the plan will merely encourage illegal immigration to the city. Note that in these conversations, the word “illegal” seems to automatically attach itself to the word “immigrant,” whether the city intended that or not.

Dayton has already gotten some national media attention for the policy, especially given recent laws elsewhere that crack down on immigrants. We’ll be taking a closer look at the city’s plans as they evolve.

Meanwhile, it looks as though this debate will continue.

City unanimously OKs immigrant-friendly planDayton commission aims to foster diversity.

BYLINE:    Jeremy P. Kelley Staff Writer DATE: October 6, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH) SECTION: Main

PAGE: A1

DAYTON — A potentially divisive City Commission meeting turned into a love-fest Wednesday, as Dayton’s plan to become an “immigrant-friendly city” was lauded by nearly every speaker and approved by a 4-0 Commission vote. “Immigrants cross many lands and seas carrying on their shoulders the hopes and dreams of so many others left behind,” said Festus Nyiwo, an immigrant from Nigeria. “This great city of Dayton is called upon at this moment to act with a sense of diversity, prosperity and posterity.” By its vote, City Commission accepted the Welcome Dayton plan “as a framework for action.”

Human Relations Council Director Tom Wahlrab said the city hopes to establish a funding recommendation and a volunteer committee to help implement the plan by the end of the year. He encouraged anyone hoping to serve on the committee to call the HRC at 333-1403. City Commissioner Matt Joseph said the city will probably pay for just one employee to coordinate the program.

The plan caused some debate about whether Dayton should embrace immigrants who are here in violation of federal laws, with some residents claiming threats to the job market and social services. Others said the plan could help a shrinking city thrive again. Three University of Dayton sociology professors spoke in favor of the plan. Jamie Longazel cited a study he did in 2005 on an immigration crackdown in Hazleton, Pa., saying the immigrants were just a convenient scapegoat.

He said Hazleton had the same vacant storefronts, decaying historic buildings and lack of manufacturing jobs that Dayton has, but the law drove away some Latino migrants who were boosting the economy. “One reason the American Dream is still alive is that people keep coming to us who believe in it,” said UD professor Linda Majka. “Dayton has the opportunity to get this right.”

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Terry Magyar, representing the Ohio Jobs and Justice PAC, cautioned city officials, saying local police “shouldn’t be making immigration decisions.” Magyar said the city should not enact a municipal ID card program unless it will fingerprint participants to ensure their identity.

Mayor Gary Leitzell read a statement addressing the illegal immigrant debate. “This is not about harboring illegal immigrants or drawing illegal immigrants into Dayton,” Leitzell said. “We understand there are problems with people entering the U.S. illegally. The Welcome Dayton plan leaves federal immigration law enforcement to the feds, and instead focuses on making our community one that treats all people kindly, fairly and humanely. If you are an illegal immigrant, you will be subjected to the same federal laws as anyone else.”

Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said studies on crime and recidivism rates show similar or decreased rates of crime from illegal immigrants.

“Some research says immigrant communities have lower crime rates because they’re frightened of having any police contact,” Biehl said. “There’s no link that I can see from anywhere that links illegal immigration with increasing crime trends.”

Dayton resident David Dewberry said city officials should be aware that some black residents feel the same “welcome mat hasn’t been extended to them,” but he supported the plan, saying many people are simply afraid of change.

Joseph said opposition to Welcome Dayton has come largely from outsiders, with city residents united in support. He talked about seeing the American Dream in his immigrant grandfather, and said Dayton hasn’t had the large “waves of immigration that usually refresh American cities,” pointing to a surge of Appalachians who came for auto jobs 60 years ago as the last group.

“There’s a practical side to this — that it’s good for the city, and there’s an idealistic side, that we’re America,” Joseph said. “In order to build a new and better Dayton … it behooves us to listen to the principles that drove this country.”

Welcome Dayton wants to build on city’s diversityWebsite, jobs event and staffing for immigrant program in place soon.

Continuing coverage Immigration BYLINE:    Jeremy P. Kelley Staff Writer

DATE: December 18, 2011 PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Local PAGE: B1

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DAYTON — The Welcome Dayton plan to become an immigrant-friendly city is considered revolutionary by some, given the anti-immigration laws passed recently in other states. But Tom Wahlrab, one of the coordinators of the plan, said the city has spent the past 10 weeks trying not to reinvent the wheel. Instead, a task force of city employees and plan authors is doing a best-practices inventory of what businesses and community groups are already doing to help integrate immigrants.

“This is not new … so we want to ask all the banks what they’re doing. Ask the hospitals, the churches, all the educational institutions,” said Wahlrab, chairman of the city’s Human Relations Council. “And let’s create the catalogue, the map of what’s currently being done, and put it out on the Internet, so … we can all learn from each other.”

Wahlrab said the task force has already heard back from a variety of different groups, including representatives from the Dayton Metro Library, Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Diabetes Day-ton and the Ahiska Turkish American Community Center.

Involving so many different groups is important because different industries may face different challenges in helping immigrants. For banks the hurdle could be documents, for schools it could be language, for churches it could be culture.

“They all have their piece of it, and it all needs to make up a whole so these people do feel comfortable and part of the citizenry,” Wahlrab said.

Courtroom 5 at Dayton’s federal building was filled with people becoming U.S. citizens on Thursday, as 52 immigrants from 19 countries took the oath of citizenship.

As immigrants from nearly every corner of the world — Cambodia, Canada, Venezuela, Germany, Sudan — stood and introduced themselves, Judge Thomas Rose told each one, “Welcome.”

When Ukraine native and Centerville resident Valery Martinov was asked what helped him adjust to the United States when he first arrived 10 years ago, he said the key was friendly, welcoming people.

Martinov, who became a citizen Thursday along with his wife, Alla, said the adjustment was difficult at first because of big differences between Russia and the United States. But he thought Dayton’s welcoming policy could draw more people from his home country.

Dieudonne Nsabimana became a U.S. citizen Thursday, but he’s already been helping fellow immigrants from his homeland of Burundi adjust to this country. He’s president of the local Burundian Cultural and Education Association, and said he had heard of the Welcome Dayton plan.

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Nsabimana of Kettering said his cultural adjustment to the United States was easier because his wife is American. But other hurdles remain. Like many Americans, he has found work, but not jobs to match his degree in business management.

“Anybody who is new here has to get help,” he said. “We’re trying to get involved in the community … but I know other immigrants who come here and the biggest trouble they have is speaking the language so they can get a job.”

That type of concern leads to some of the more concrete ideas of the Welcome Dayton plan.

Wahlrab said the city hopes to partner with the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce on a job-match event.

Chamber Vice President Chris Kershner said his organization already has a minority business partnership effort that works with both employers and the local work force. “If we can leverage the region’s talents to help this immigrant-friendly policy, we’d love to do that,” Kershner said.

Other tangible steps of Welcome Dayton include plans to hire a part-time staffer and a social work intern by January to coordinate city efforts. Wahlrab said a Welcome Dayton website should be launched by Jan. 1. He had hoped to have the city ordinance creating a Welcome Dayton committee prepared by this month, but now says City Commission may see that in January.

LaShea Smith, Dayton’s director of recreation and youth services, has been tasked with creating a local soccer tournament for next fall, with teams representing their respective home nations. She said the American Friends Service Committee had a somewhat similar event, and the city will try to build on it.

Wahlrab said the task force is researching things like what languages to include on Welcome Day-ton signage for the airport and how to proceed with any type of municipal ID card.

The group is cataloguing agencies that teach English as a second language, but he said Welcome Day-ton’s call for better translation services might even be helped by technology, given the translation applications on new smart phones and tablets. “We’ve gotten the publicity and we have an extremely detailed and interesting plan, but we’ve got to show substance and a lot of heart,” Wahlrab said. “I think we’re doing that. … The city has to maintain its momentum in implementing the aspects of the plan. They need to maintain focus on it and they’ve got to show some progress.”

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