A $4.8 million investment into desperate immigrants pays off with a $50 million economic impact, according to a study by Chmura Economics & Analytics.
Nar Pradhan stocks cookware last week at the Lorain Avenue grocery he and his family opened to serve Cleveland's South Asian refugee community. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three resettlement agencies spend about $4.8 million a year helping refugees to start new lives in the Cleveland area. From that investment of mostly federal dollars comes an annual economic impact of nearly $50 million.
That's the conclusion of a first-of-its-kind study of refugee households and their effect on the local economy.
Daniel Meges, the economist who lead the research, told a press conference Monday morning that the 10-to-one return is the kind of payback investors dream of.
"These are on par with venture capital type returns," he told a gathering of about 100 people at St. Augustine Towers on Cleveland's west side. "The refugees in the Cleveland area are actually doing very well."
While Meges detailed the economic impact of the new Americans, other speakers emphasized the social and cultural benefits of welcoming new cultures to a depopulated city. Angela Woodson, the welcoming coordinator for Global Cleveland, said homeless families from Asia, Africa and Europe can add population and vitality to depressed neighborhoods.
Refugees joined civic leaders Monday at a press conference where Chmura Economics & Analytics released a study detailing the economic power of the refugee community. "Let today be a day when other cities can see Cleveland as a leading center of growth and inclusion," she said.
Global Cleveland is one of a dozen members of a newly formed Refugee Services Collaborative of Greater Cleveland, which used a grant from the Cleveland Foundation to commission the study.
Cleveland and the suburbs of Lakewood and Cleveland Heights welcome about 500 refugees a year. That number, while taxing the resources of the resettlement agencies, is below average for a city Cleveland's size.
Many say the study's revelations lend new credence to the argument that Cleveland should welcome more immigrants and refugees. For example, the study found that:
- Cleveland's refugee families tend to attain self-sufficiency sooner than refugees in other cities.
- Refugees find jobs. About 75 percent of the county's refugees over age 16 are employed, compared to 57 percent of the general population.
- Refugees are 23 percent more likely to start a business than native-born residents and have started at least 38 businesses here in the last decade.
- Refugees tend to put down roots and spark secondary migrations, attracting others from their cultures as they succeed. About 250 refugees have bought houses in the area.
"Part of today is a call to action to the Cleveland community," said Brian Upton, whose church-based group, Building Hope in the City, works with refugees and helped organize the collaborative. "If this is something you see and believe in, engage with us, please."
The study can be found on the website of the refugee collaborative, rsccleveland.org.