Julia Silverio from the Dominican Republic, owner of Silverio Insurance Agency in Lawrence, MA, believes that small-group discussion is one of the mediums where “the struggles and accomplishments of immigrants can really be brought to light.” She was one of three immigrant entrepreneurs who joined The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. (ILC) Public Education Institute to talk about “The Vital Role of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Massachusetts.”

On April 5, 2014, The ILC Public Education Institute participated in a Lawrence History Center symposium on “The History of New Immigration into Lawrence, MA, and Similar Communities.” The symposium was led by Susan Grabski, the Society’s executive director, and Robert Forrant, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Forrant invited The ILC Public Education Institute to participate after discovering its research studies on Massachusetts immigrant entrepreneurship.

Held at the historic Everett Mills in Lawrence, the symposium brought together academic, community development and urban planning communities to learn more about immigrants and their economic and cultural impacts.

Denzil Mohammed and Chiara Magini of The ILC Public Education Institute led a 75-minute session on “The Vital Role of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Massachusetts.” Following a presentation of research, three entrepreneurs shared their stories with attendees: Silverio; Rosemary Agbede from Nigeria, owner of Unique You Salon in Lowell, MA; and Maria Rosa from the Dominican Republic, owner of Yeska Cakes in Lawrence, MA.

Silverio, winner of a 2012 ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur Award, said that immigrant women were more likely to start businesses in the U.S. than in their places of birth. “Women are seen as equal to men in the U.S. and so have similar opportunities to pursue entrepreneurship,” she said. (Hear more from Silverio in a video interview.)

Talking about how her business helped revitalize her neighborhood, Rosa explained how she converted an empty, run-down space into an attractive storefront that brought new customers to the area. Detailing the challenges of starting a business as an immigrant, Agbede said, “Accessing bank loans was very hard because I didn’t know how to build my credit history…but I did not let that deter me. I had a dream and I was determined.”

To learn more about the positive impact of immigrant entrepreneurs, see The ILC Public Institute’s research, video interviews and Immigrant Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.

Denzil Mohammed and Chiara Magini of The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. (ILC) Public Education Institute provided a demographic overview of immigrants in the U.S. and demonstrated the ways in which immigrants are positively impacting their communities at one of 30 workshops at a conference titled Where Integration meets Innovation: Creating, Sustaining and Improving Dynamic & Diverse Public Schools for the 21st Century. The conference was hosted by One Nation Indivisible and held in Hartford, CT.

Mohammed and Magini offered the latest data and projections on immigration across the nation as well as its impact on public schools.

They also talked about ways in which participants could positively frame the conversation around immigration based on immigrant entrepreneurship, innovation, labor force participation, community development and the values immigrants share with their native-born counterparts. In this way, participants could offer more thoughtful input into the public discourse on immigration.

Click here to see the presentation “The Changing Face of America: What Educators Need to Know About Immigration, its Impact on Schools and its Benefits to Communities.” Additional information sources for immigrants in Connecticut  Massachusetts and New York can also be viewed.

The Immigrant Theater Class is a unique learning environment that combines traditional English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) instruction with personal storytelling and public speaking. Each term, students write and perform original plays about their experiences as newcomers in America. The events are open to the public.

For the students, the experience of performing helps them improve their English skills and makes them more comfortable when speaking in their daily lives. One student commented that she used to be afraid to talk to people. She worried that they would be impatient or critical or get angry. After being in the Theater Class, she’s no longer afraid.

The audience also benefits by learning about the predicaments and the positive contributions of immigrants in this country.

History

2003

Unique circumstances came together to spark an Immigrant Theater Group at The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. Kathleen Klose, an ESOL teacher, was hearing inspiring stories from the immigrants and refugees in her class about their journeys to make a life in the U.S. At the same time, she was developing her hobby as a playwright. She became interested in helping her students tell their stories on stage, and so the Immigrant Theater Group was born.

“There were two reasons I started the group,” said Kathleen Klose. “The first was a way to improve [my students] English skills, and the second was to help them communicate their stories with people who really didn’t understand their situation.”

In the beginning, there were only 15 students meeting one hour a week before class. By summer time, they were meeting daily and had worked out nine vignettes based on true stories of their lives. In August, they performed If You Could Hear My Voice at The Malden Public Library.

“Most of the students who signed up originally were just interested in another way to practice conversation. But once we got started, they became very involved in using theater to express their experiences, and that became the driving force for them. After the first production, there was a sense that their self-esteem was stronger and that it had been very therapeutic for them to express what they were going through, ” remembered Kathleen.

 

2004

The Immigrant Theater Group filmed If You Could Hear My Voice at the studios of  Malden Access Television (MATV). This and other plays by ILC students were aired on public access stations across the country.

In the spring, the Theater Group performed their next production, From Darkness to Light, at City Hall about the experiences of students who fled dangerous situations and risked death to seek safe haven in the U.S.

Later that year, the Immigrant Theater Group evolved to a full-fledged class, incorporating traditional lessons of grammar and pronunciation with story writing and stage directions. The students presented a workshop about this unique learning environment at the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Basic Education Network Conference.

The first play performed at The Immigrant Learning Center by the new class was Bring Them Back about the contributions of immigrants to American’s way of life. The students also performed Bring Them Back at the Adult Student Leadership Conference and at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge.

2005

The Immigrant Theater Class again presented a workshop at the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Basic Education Network Conference entitled The Many Meanings of Excuse Me.

The second play performed at The ILC was Bring Them Back II, showing the value of both-low skilled and professional immigrants working in this country.

 

 

 

 

2006

The students created The Hey Ho Show to look at culture and generation gaps in immigrant families. The show premiered at East Somerville Community School. The Hey Ho Show II was performed at The ILC. The Hey Ho Show III was performed for middle school students at Salemwood School in Malden, ninth grade students at Malden Catholic High School and Malden High School, and teachers and students at the Adult Student Leadership Conference at Quinsigamund Community College in Worcester.

The Immigration Simulation Game Show, a humorous depiction of the serious causes of immigration, was performed at the Massachusetts Adult Basic Education Directors Meeting. A Day in Our Shoes, a view into the difficult lives of immigrants, was performed at The ILC.

 

2007

Dreaming of America, a humorous look at the hopes and realities of immigrants’ lives in the U.S., was performed at Brooksby Village in Peabody and the Cotting School in Lexington.

Theater Class students mentored middle school students in Citizen School from Salemwood School in Malden.

The Anguish of English, an illustration of the many frustrations of learning English as an adult, was performed at The ILC. The Long Road to Boston, the harrowing story of a refugee escaping political violence in Haiti, was performed at the Ethical Society of Boston and filmed by MATV.

 

 

2008

Find  Your Way on the MBTA, Survival 101: Transportation and Employment, Grammar Songs, and True Stories I were all performed at The ILC.

 

2009

True Stories II – Climbing a Mountain and True Stories III – Time to Laugh were performed at The ILC. The students filmed a pilot ILC Cooking Show and Never Give Up, a story of strength and courage in overcoming tremendous obstacles, at MATV.

 

2010

This year, the Immigrant Theater Class began performing at the new Malden Senior Community Center. The first performance was Pick Me Down and Drop Me Over, a humorous collection of vignettes to teach the use of phrasal verbs, followed by Rise up Singing, which used music, poetry and story-telling to illustrate the human ability to overcome adversity and was also filmed at MATV.  Songs of the Heart, a collection of songs and dances from the students’ native countries, ended the year.

 

 

2011

We Are the World, songs and stories to remind us to keep a sense of humor when times are hard, followed by Marketplace of the World and The Dreams We Share, which contained stories, songs and dances from the students’ native countries, were all performed at the Malden Senior Community Center.

 

 

2012

The Immigrant Theater Class partnered with Malden Reads to create a play based on one of the books selected for community-wide reading called The Seedfolks. The performance was titled The Seed Folks of Malden.

Unique circumstances again came together as Kathleen Klose was ready to retire from the Theater Class to devote herself full-time to The ILC’s Literacy Program. The perfect candidate to take the lead from Kathleen was already here. Leora Sapon-Shevin had been volunteering one day a week at The ILC. Leora not only has ESOL certification, but she also has a Masters in Theater Education.

Under Leora’s direction, the class produced Experiences from Home to the U.S. and Lost and Found at the Malden Senior Community Center.

 

 

 

 

2013

The Immigrant Theater Class again partners with Malden Reads to produce The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Immigrant based on a theme taken from the graphic novel The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian.

Other productions this year included Child, Life Starts Now, a collection of stories and traditions of child rearing from the students’ native countries, and Nothing is Impossible, a play based on Aesop’s Fables and other folktales from students’ native countries.

 

Reaffirming the vitality that foreign-born business owners bring to the economy, Gov. Deval Patrick proclaimed Massachusetts Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month on Tuesday, October 15, 2013. It was the third straight year that the Month was proclaimed to recognize the significant contributions that foreign-born entrepreneurs make to economic growth, innovation and job creation in the Commonwealth. (See the 2012 blog post and a video from the 2011 launch.)

In delivering the proclamation in downtown Boston, Gov. Patrick emphasized the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants who start businesses and create jobs that fuel the Massachusetts economy.

Three such immigrant business owners were on hand including Charles Mwangi (Kenya) of Comfort Care Resource Group in Malden who was featured in Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Growing Industries: Creating Jobs and Strengthening the U.S. Economy, the latest report from The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. (ILC). Along with Mwangi (pictured at right), Victoria Amador (Dominican Republic), co-founder of Tremendous Maids in Jamaica Plain, and Suren Masumyan (Armenia), founder of SurriMassini, Inc. in Swampscott, were presented with citations by Gov. Patrick. See videos of other outstanding entrepreneurs in The ILC’s Immigrant Entrepreneur Interview Series.

Massachusetts Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month takes place from October 15 to November 15, 2013. It kicks off a series of events into 2014 by The ILC and the New Americans Integration Institute at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition. It culminates in May with the 2014 ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards.

The Massachusetts Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month initiative is led by The ILC, MIRA’s New Americans Integration Institute and the Office for Refugees and Immigrants. It recognizes the significant contributions that foreign-born innovators and business owners make to the Commonwealth. In greater Boston alone, immigrants own more than 8,800 small businesses representing $3.7 billion in annual sales and employing 18,500 people, according to data from the Boston Redevelopment Authority. ILC-commissioned research shows that one-third of leisure and hospitality businesses in Massachusetts were founded by immigrants and that immigrant entrepreneurs have founded or co-founded 26 percent of Massachusetts biotech companies and produce $7.6 billion in annual revenue and employ more than 4,000 people.

 

 

 

In the latest free online workshop for educators on July 9 to 11, 2013, The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. Public Education Institute expanded into new territory.

Hosted on-site for Massachusetts educators since 2004 and then online for national participation since 2012, “Teaching Immigration Across the Curriculum” informs K-12 and community educators about their immigrant students and equips them with the tools to integrate immigrant students and immigration into their classrooms. It is led by director of the Institute Marcia Drew Hohn with assistance from Denzil Mohammed and Chiara Magini.

Utilizing the successful online education model developed by the Institute in 2012, this year’s workshop reached new audiences with new content and collaborators.

 “The workshop was a fabulous opportunity to enrich our understanding of immigration issues. It also gave us tools for how to apply our new insights into better practices.”

Participant, “Teaching Immigration Across the Curriculum”

The 80 registered participants hailed from 23 states compared to 14 states last year. This brings to 25 the total number of states reached by the workshop since its online debut.

The 2013 workshop also saw a more ambitious mix of online media to enhance learning and interaction: webinars, recorded panel discussions, live call-in Q&As, interactive Google Docs, chat rooms and an interactive immigration timeline on which participants traced their immigration history.

The workshop included new modules led by new collaborators to address the changing needs of educators. These modules included a discussion on “Issues, Perspectives and Ideas to Build a Framework for Curriculum Adaption” with Westy Egmont of Boston College and new collaborators Judy Shreves of Warren Country Schools, Missouri, and Usha Tummala-Narra of Boston College. Click here to view the workshop resources.

According to one participant, “The workshop was a fabulous opportunity to enrich our understanding of immigration issues. It also gave us tools for how to apply our new insights into better practices.”

Click here to be informed when details become available for the next workshop.

Neighborhood business: Mahmud Jafri (Pakistan) of Dover Rug & Home, Natick.

Business growth: Rafael Guzman (Dominican Republic) of RM Technologies, Inc., Lawrence.

Science/technology business: Dr. Chiang Li (China) of Boston Biomedical, Inc., Cambridge.

See profiles and videos below.

The nominees in attendance received citations from their respective legislators, and the three winners received trophies and citations from Massachusetts Treasurer and Receiver General Steven Grossman and Master of Ceremonies Richard A. Davey, Jr., secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and ILC board trustee. All were impressive examples of entrepreneurial spirit.

In welcoming guests, The ILC Founder, President and CEO Diane Portnoy said, “As entrepreneurs, immigrants revitalize depressed neighborhoods, create jobs, pay taxes and help form the backbone of this country… This is not a new story in American history. Since the founding of this country, immigrants have come here with hope, drive and ingenuity and have become entrepreneurs. This evening’s awardees and nominees are part of a long and proud tradition.”

Guest Speaker Steven Grossman shared his personal relationship to immigrant entrepreneurship from his experience leading the company founded by his immigrant grandfather, Grossman Communications, to his interactions with immigrant small business owners participating in the Commonwealth’s Small Business Banking Partnership.

Here’s a glimpse of this year’s 2013 Immigrant Entrepreneur Award winners.

 

Outstanding Neighborhood Business

Mahmud Jafri, founder of Dover Rug & Home

Country of origin: Pakistan  

Dover Rug & Home began in Jafri’s house in 1989. He stored the rugs in the garage and used the living room as a showroom. Twenty-three years later, Dover Rug & Home occupies a 36,000-square-foot space on Route 9 in Natick.

Jafri is also committed to community development, which is evident in the school programs, interfaith initiatives and charitable organizations he supports. Born out of his love of the sport, he also built the Dover Squash and Fitness facility for area enthusiasts to play and use as a platform for cross-cultural understanding.

Jafri said, “When I immigrated in 1974, I, like many of you, was apprehensive about what it would be like to start a new chapter of my life in an entirely new country. But I knew that this great nation offered endless opportunities and welcomed people of all races and creeds from every corner of the world with open arms. The acceptance and camaraderie I experienced along the way taught me how fortunate I am to live in a country that offers the resources and guidance to anyone who has the drive and ambition to succeed regardless of where you are from, the color of your skin or what higher power you believe in.”

 

Outstanding Business Growth

Rafael Guzman, founder of RM Technologies, Inc.

Country of origin: Dominican Republic

When Guzman bought RM Technologies, Inc. in 1997, the small demolition and environmental remediation firm had only three office staff and was making $800,000 a year. He turned it into an expanded business employing more than 200 people with 45 percent revenue growth over the last three years.

In his remarks, Guzman stressed the importance of education. He has a master’s in manufacturing engineering, and he thanked the American people for the assistance he received to make this education possible. He framed his company’s explosive growth as a way of giving back saying, “My company last year paid over $3 million in salaries and wages to 172 employees. I’m happy to report that this year we project to pay over $5 million to over 250 people, mostly immigrants from the city of Lawrence, the poorest city in the Commonwealth. The American dream is alive and kicking very much. It’s here for most of us to reach in this great nation.”

In addition to job creation, Guzman gives back to his community by sponsoring Lawrence film festivals, book fairs and baseball teams, and he established a scholarship for underprivileged children like himself who want to study engineering.

 

Outstanding Science/Technology Business

Dr. Chiang Li, founder of Boston Biomedical, Inc.

Country of origin: China

Li is a prolific inventor, successful businessman and doctor committed to helping others. He has pioneered research into treatments of cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He has founded five companies and is the named inventor on 230 patents.

In 2006, when 30 scientists working under him were about to be laid off, Li resigned, started a new company and re-hired all 30 scientists. That company was Boston Biomedical, Inc. The company has developed an innovative clinical-stage product pipeline that targets cancer stem cells. It was acquired in 2012 for up to $2.63 billion. Li serves as president, CEO and chief medical officer.

Li shared his success with many others including the Massachusetts’ business environment. “Here, in Massachusetts I think we have all three elements [talent, capital and a supportive political system]. That’s why there is no better place on Earth, I feel, to grow science/technology/innovation business than here in Massachusetts… There is an unparalleled [supply of] science/technology [talent]. A large percentage is immigrants. The combination is so powerful. There is no country in the world that is even close to a country like America to grow innovative business.”

For more videos, see our Immigrant Entrepreneur Interview Series.

 

This year, The Immigrant Learning Center (ILC), Inc.’s Public Education Institute joined with MassINC and the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations for an action research project. The purpose of the action research is to develop an evidenced-based model for reaching and engaging immigrant entrepreneurs to grow their businesses in Lynn, MA. Now two-thirds of the way through, this initiative has brought together a coalition of city government, community development and financing organizations to connect with storefront entrepreneurs.

The project built upon The ILC Public Education Institute’s mission to promote immigrants as assets to America, particularly immigrant entrepreneurs. Their restaurants, grocery stores, nail salons and insurance firms are crucial to the revitalization of downtown areas in long-term economic decline. However, the Massachusetts Immigrant Entrepreneurship Conference hosted by The ILC at Babson College in November 2010 and ILC-commissioned research confirmed a disconnection between immigrant-owned storefronts and the technical assistance and training needed to support their growth.

As a result, a survey of Lynn business owners was conducted, and the coalition responded to stated needs around low-cost advertising and financing through workshops held in October and November 2012. Currently, the coalition is working on connecting the storefront owners to business opportunities in concerts and other arts events.

Supported by funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Sustainable Communities program administered through the Massachusetts Area Planning Council, this project also benefited from the expertise of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, which facilitated training sessions earlier this year on reaching and engaging immigrant-owned neighborhood businesses.

The project will be completed in April 2013 when a model for immigrant entrepreneur outreach and engagement will be created. This model can be used by city leadership to further development efforts by helping immigrant-owned storefronts to grow. It is hoped that such growth would hasten the downtown revitalization needed in Lynn and that the model developed through this project would invigorate similar communities across the Commonwealth and the country.

 

“Immigrants have the disposition and courage to take risks,” said Marcia Drew Hohn, EdD, director of The ILC Public Education Institute, at the State House on Thursday, November 15, 2012. “Their coming here is in itself an entrepreneurial act. It should come as no surprise that they represent an outsized portion of entrepreneurs in Massachusetts relative to their size of population.”

On the heels of last month’s Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month 2012, Dr. Hohn led a talk on “Massachusetts Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Creating Jobs and Strengthening the Economy.” (Download a fact sheet here.) With statistics from ILC-commissioned research and the stories of eight business owners, the discussion highlighted the contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs who help power the Commonwealth’s economy through job creation and business growth. The talk was attended by representatives from legislative offices, economic development organizations and immigrant integration groups.

Dr. Hohn presented data showing 61 percent of new businesses in the Commonwealth were founded by immigrants in 2008 although immigrants represented only 14 percent of the population.

Immigrant-owned storefronts like Pailin City, which anchors the Cambodiatown section of Lowell, were revitalizing Massachusetts neighborhoods in economic decline across the Commonwealth, Dr. Hohn said. Pailin City is owned by Malee Thai, who received a citation from Gov. Deval Patrick for Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month 2012.

Another business, Silverio Insurance Agency, which primarily serves the Latino population in Lawrence, grew more than 30 percent from 2009 to 2012 to $2.5 million in revenue. This was one example, Dr. Hohn said, of the continued growth of immigrant-owned businesses in niche markets often neglected by other businesses. High growth can also be seen in immigrant-owned businesses in hospitality, transportation and food manufacturing.

And in the high-tech world, Dr. Hohn said immigrants were powering Massachusetts’ innovation economy. More than one-quarter of biotech companies were founded or co-founded by immigrants. These companies employed more than 4,000 workers and generated $7.6 billion in revenue in 2006 alone.

While the data underscored the significant contributions of immigrant-owned businesses, Dr. Hohn noted that they tend to be disconnected from community and economic development organizations, which can hamper further growth.

 

See videos of Massachusetts immigrant business owners in our Immigrant Entrepreneur Interview Series. 

 

A nominee for The ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards 2012, Malee Thai, was one of six business owners given citations at a press conference marking the second annual Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month at the Massachusetts State House on October 19, 2012.

Thai fled to the U.S. 30 years ago after escaping the genocide in Cambodia where members of her family were killed. Today, she co-owns Pailin City, a landmark retail complex comprising a supermarket, restaurant and function hall in Lowell’s Cambodiatown. Thai was nominated in the neighborhood business category at The ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards 2012 in May. Her story can be seen in The ILC Immigrant Entrepreneur Interview Series.

Thai’s citation from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick recognized her significant contributions to the economic wellbeing of Lowell. The citation was presented by co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business Sen. Sal DiDomenico and State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry.

Today, immigrants are more than twice as likely to start a new business, creating jobs for Americans and enhancing our capacity for innovation. As a result, “immigrant entrepreneurs have helped to strengthen the Massachusetts economy,” according to Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki at the press conference. Mr. Bailicki emphasized the importance of this month-long celebration because “the national conversation does not do justice to immigrants’ contributions.”

Apart from Thai, other business owners honored for Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month 2012 were:

• Enrique Shadah (Venezuela), founder of high-tech incubator Startup Blvd. in Allston;
• Greg and Brendan Feeney (Ireland), who employ more than 200 people at Feeney Brothers Excavation Corp. in Dorchester;
• Wilton Rangel (Brazil), owner of Oliveira’s Restaurant in Everett; and,
• Dieufort “Keke” Fleurissaint, owner of Keke Fleurissaint Financial Services.