'Global Detroit': Immigrant Businesses Can Reverse Detroit's Economic Devastation

Detroit, Michigan is experiencing "post-industrial population decline and economic sluggishness." The city's population has been on a steady decline since the 1950s and their metropolitan area hasn't increased since the year 2000. Leaders, local and regional, have examined countless strategies in an attempt to devise a plan to restart the economic and population growth.

The "Global Detroit" initiative emerged as a resolution. "Global Detroit" is an effort to utilize the economic strengthening and growing abilities of immigrants, hoping that it will act as a panacea for economic instability. The initiative was composed with an expectation that it would stabilize residential neighborhoods and revive the retail sector, as well as create a diverse market of culture, food, goods, language and services. Job creation, employment, new technology, new jobs, increased property value, improved quality of life and thorough vibrancy throughout the region are also goals that leaders hope will be achieved.

"Nothing is more powerful to remaking Detroit as a center of innovation, entrepreneurship and population growth, than embracing and increasing immigrant populations and the entrepreneurial culture and global connections that they bring and deliver," stated a Global Detroit report.

East Dearborn, Hamtramck, and Southwest Detroit are neighborhoods where immigrants have begun to relocate, and positive results have already begun to generate in these areas. Funds have been created for philanthropic projects such as urban microenterprises training and lending program, microloans, entrepreneurship training, immigrant services, free and low-cost technical assistance, and neighborhood renewal -- all which will help to offset Detroit's 2013 city-wide bankruptcy.

Steve Tobocman, the Director of Global Detroit, stated: "I don't think we're offering that immigration is a panacea. But that being said, I do think [immigration] may be the single great urban revitalization strategy in modern-day America, and it's one that doesn't cost tax dollars."