Giving Compass' Take:

• Welcoming San Diego is a multisector initiative to help credential and recredential immigrants to enter the local workforce.

• Can this program be replicated in other cities? How are donors encompassing immigrant populations into local workforce development projects? 

• Read about how immigrant workers play key roles in local economies and merit investment. 

Welcoming San Diego, a multisector effort to “advance the civic, social, and economic integration of immigrants and refugees,” says the city is home to 62,299 immigrant entrepreneurs. San Diego’s immigrants have $16.3 billion in spending power and pay $9.6 billion in taxes each year.

Although harmful national discourse and heightened immigration enforcement activity are affecting immigrant families and their communities across the country, economic and workforce development efforts can reflect the recognition of immigrants as integral members of local workforces who make important contributions to local economies.

Welcoming San Diego demonstrates how the city ensures immigrants are fully welcomed in the community—strengthening its economy and government revenue in the process—by including immigrants in its local workforce system.

A local workforce system, as explained in our online guide, is an array of organizations and activities that helps people prepare for jobs, advance their careers, and support employers. Local workforce systems encompass complex webs of funding sources, programs, target populations, and labor market demands, but understanding them is critical for local leaders and stakeholders to support a skilled workforce and thriving community.

The San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP), a local workforce development board and Welcoming San Diego partner that is highlighted in our Local Workforce System Guide, helps coordinate San Diego’s local workforce system and connect residents with the training and education they need to gain better jobs.

The initiative will boost credentialing efforts and develop new funding streams for recredentialing processes, lead research on immigrant professionals in the health care, education, and tech sectors, and launch an internship program.

Helping immigrant workers gain new skills, or “upskilling,” is also critical to supporting immigrants’ economic well-being.

Read the full article about strengthening the workforce through immigrants by Hamutal Bernstein and Christin Durham at Urban Institute.