Task Force Offers Blueprint for Unleashing Economic Potential

(Chicago) The Chicago region’s future economic growth and Chicago’s status as a first-tier global city will greatly depend on how well it integrates its growing Mexican community, a group of prominent business and civic leaders said today.

A report published by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs calls for an unprecedented partnership among all levels of government, business, nonprofit agencies, and all parts of the Mexican community to realize the potential of Mexican immigrants and their children to participate fully in the economic, social and civic life of Chicago.

“Mexican immigrants and their children comprise a large part of our current and future workforce and are the engine that will fuel future economic growth,” said Clare Munana, task force co-chair.  “Working in partnership with this community to achieve full integration and making an investment in the economic future of the Chicago region are one and the same activity.”

Formed by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Mexican American Task Force is led by Alejandro Silva, Chairman, Evans Food Group; Clare Muñana, President, Ancora Associates and vice president, Chicago Board of Education; and Douglas Doetsch, Partner, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP.

According to the Task Force’s report—A Shared Future: The Economic Engagement of Greater Chicago and Its Mexican Community—Chicago’s Mexican community is a robust economic catalyst for the region. Mexicans account for 80 percent of the region’s Latino population, which, in turn, is responsible for:

• Nearly 10 percent of household income
• Nearly 15 percent of the state’s labor force (as of 2004)
• Nearly half  (46%) of the total growth in owner-occupied homes between 2000 and 2003

Mexicans’ centrality to the Chicago economy goes beyond household income, the report adds. Area Latino business districts are among the most successful in the region. Latino-owned businesses posted $7.4 billion in sales in 2002, almost double their contribution just five years earlier. They also offer Chicago an important link to Mexico, Illinois’ second-largest trading partner, as well as to the $2.4 trillion market in the world’s 21 Spanish-speaking countries.

As U.S. Census reports released last month demonstrate, the 1.3 million Mexicans living in the six-county Chicago area currently comprise the region's largest single ethnic group, and their population is expected to more than double within the next three decades.

Fully engaging Mexicans—like the immigrant populations that preceded them—in Chicago’s economic development will require overcoming language, educational and other skills challenges, the report said.  But the integration of Mexicans has some marked differences with other immigrant groups.

• This is the first time Chicago has integrated such a large proportion of its population from a single foreign country, all sharing a common language and culture, within such a short period of time.
• Industrial jobs, once the traditional source of immigrant economic and social mobility, are being replaced by service sector jobs that demand higher levels of education.
• The pace of today’s global economic change demands that Chicago take immediate action to ensure that its workforce has the training and education necessary to compete in a knowledge-based economy, and build on the linguistic and cultural assets that many immigrants possess.

To do this, The Chicago Council’s task force advocates for a comprehensive set of policies that promote the economic development, educational advancement, political and civic participation, and health of the Mexican community in the Chicago region.  For more details and to download the full report, click here.

The report is the result of several months of intensive study by the Chicago Council’s task force, which investigated the economic, social, and cultural impact of the growing Mexican population on the region. 

The report is the second in a series of original reports from The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. With this report and others to follow, The Chicago Council hopes to greatly expand Chicago’s role in the discourse on global policy.

“In a globalizing world, great cities like Chicago increasingly have a vital role to play in setting national and international policy on key issues,” said Marshall M. Bouton, President, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “The Mexican community represents a genuine economic opportunity for Chicago. If we follow the recommendations in this Task Force report, we have the opportunity to be a leader in the area of immigrant integration and to set a course for enhanced economic prosperity.”

Recommendations Highlights

Economic Development. Prepare Mexicans for high growth jobs of the future

• Business leaders and local workforce boards should develop training programs for high growth industries (health, education, transportation) that integrate on-site work skills with English classes. Example: Carreras en Salud. This program is a partnership between Instituto del Progresso Latino and Wright College’s Humboldt Park Vocational Educational Center. It addresses skills development gaps for Latinos in the health care field.
  
  
• Suburban mayors should recruit and work with Mexican business owners to revitalize commercial districts.
  Example: Mayor Don Peloquin has drawn Latinos into the city of Blue Island’s revitalization planning process by appointing them to local planning, zoning, library and civil service boards.

Education. Improve academic achievement and educational attainment of Mexican community

• Schools throughout the six-county region should improve bilingual programs and develop dual-language programs to prepare students to compete in a global economy.  
  Example: A majority of Inter-American School students in Chicago are Latino. They are taught in Spanish 70 percent of time until grade four and 50% of the time after that. More than 70 percent of the children meet or exceed state standards, compared to 45 percent in the district and 65 percent in the state.
  
  
• Schools and University departments of education need to recruit and support local Mexican teacher and principal candidates from traditional and non-traditional backgrounds. 

Civic Participation. Promote citizenship and voter registration 

• Government, business and the education community, in partnership with the Mexican community, should to increase programs that offer English and citizenship classes, and naturalization and voter registration campaigns.
  Example:  The Refugee and Immigrant Citizenship Initiative is a state funded program through which more than 130,000 people have received English language, civics, U.S. history instruction, and citizen application assistance.
  
  
• Mexican and other Latino organizations should establish relationships with corporate, civic, cultural and community organizations to encourage the participation of Mexican leaders on their boards.
  Example: The Hispanic Alliance for Career Education has been a pioneer in leveraging relationships with major corporations to facilitate or open the doors for recent Latino colleges graduates to obtain jobs in corporate America.

Health.  Increase access to affordable health care and other essential services

• Make public health insurance and services available to all Illinois residents regardless of immigrant status.
  
  
• Corporate, private and hospital foundations should work in tandem with the academic and healthcare institutions to foster education and training of bilingual healthcare professionals.
  Example: Spanish-speaking Chicago public high school students considering healthcare careers can participate in a six-week paid summer on-site internships at Children’s Memorial Hospital.
  
  
• Suburban mayors should partner with immigrant and other community leaders to establish Community Welcoming Centers in suburbs with growing Mexican and other immigrant populations.