MARCC DELEGATES COUNCIL
MINUTES
11 January 2011
Welcome: MARCC President Pat Coyle
Prayer: Rev. Sharon Dittmar, Unitarian Universalist Council of Greater Cincinnati
Minutes: Delegates Council Minutes of 12 December approved
Agenda: Delegates Agenda for 11 January approved
Attendance:
ARCHDIOCESE OF CINCINNATI: Fr. Joe Folzenlogen, Connie Widmer, James
Bramlage, Bob Ehrsam, Jose Francisco Echeverria, Tony Stieritz, Fr. Louis
Gasparini, Mary Wendeln Copp
ASSOCIATION OF UNITY CHURCHES: Mark Stroud, Doris Hoskins
BAPTIST MINISTERS CONFERENCE:
CINCINNATI ISLAMIC CENTER:
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST: David Tietsort
EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF SOUTHERN OH: Pat Coyle, Phylis, Charles Ellman
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AMERICA:
INTERDENOMINATIONAL MINISTERS ALLIANCE:
MARCC: Margaret A. Fox, Alice Skirtz (former Board President)
MIAMI BAPTIST ASSOC. (AMERICAN BAPTIST): Mark Basil
PRESBYTERY OF CINCINNATI: Tiffany Zents, Rev. Hart Edmonds, George
Hufford
JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL: Barbara Glueck
SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKER): Donne Hayden, Frank Huss, Jim Coppock,
Jean Crocker Lakness
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (OH RIVER VALLEY DIST.): Nancy L. Walters,
Cathie Shick
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST COUNCIL OF CINCINNATI: Lee Myer, MJ Pierson,
Sharon Dittmar
GUESTS: Timothy Riordan (City Manager, Dayton), Thomas Walrab (Executive
Director, Dayton Human Relations Council)
RECORDING: Flip camera substituting for Sarah Geiger, MARCC Office
Administrator
HANDOUTS: MARCC January Newsletter, Immigrants as Entrepreneurs and
Inventors (Excerpts from the Partnership for a New American Economy Fact
Sheet, The Brookings Institute)
MARCC’s Office Administrator was out sick at the January Delegates Council Meeting.
Substituting for her was our new office Flip camera which supposedly recorded the
meeting. MARCC’s Executive Director, much to her dismay, though she followed the
instructions, discovered after the meeting the Flip camera did not record the meeting. In
light of this the January 2012 Delegates Council minutes are summarized via memory.
Due to this problem we are also attaching the two handouts from the meeting, the
Common Path, January Issue 2012 and Immigrants as Entrepreneurs and Inventors,
Excerpts from the Partnership for a New American Economy Fact Sheet, Brookings
Institute.
Introductory Remarks: Margaret Fox, Executive Director
This Delegates Council meeting focus is the Welcome Dayton Plan: An Immigrant
Friendly City. We have with us today Dayton City Manager Timothy Riordon and
Thomas Walrah, Executive Director of Dayton Human Relations Council.
Introduction of Today’s Speakers:
Timothy Riordon is Dayton City Manager and former Deputy City Manager of
Cincinnati and member of the Banks Working Group.
Thomas Walrab is the Executive Director of the City of Dayton (OH) Human Relations
Council and the former Coordinator of the Dayton Mediation Center. He has thirty years
working in government and private sector environments involving affirmative action,
contract compliance, civil rights, mediation, and conflict management and team building
systems development. Tom received his BA English/Education from Central State
University, Wilberforce, Ohio and a MS Ed. in Special Education, University of Dayton,
and Dayton, Ohio. He is also a Fellow and a Board member with the Institute for the
Study of Conflict Transformation (ISCT), a former member of the Board of Directors for
the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) and a founding member
and first chairperson of the Ohio Community Mediation Association.
Presentation Summary
Tim Riordon, Dayton City Manager, felt the reason Dayton received so much publicity
on the Welcome Dayton Plan was because Welcome Dayton: An Immigrant Friendly
City, was announced the day after Alabama’s sweeping immigration bill, a series of antiimmigrant laws, was upheld in Federal Court. The press was looking for a counterpoint
to Alabama’s anti-immigrant laws.
Mr. Riordon went on to outline the importance of re-building Dayton’s economy.
Dayton is a city in crisis. Mr. Riordan felt immigrants are hard-working, build businesses
and need job opportunities. This source of income could contribute to re-building
Dayton’s tax base. He was able to present a proposal to City Commission to adopt tax
incentives to develop an area of the city center along East Third Street into an
international market to support immigrant entrepreneurs. The City Building Department
was authorized to exercise flexible application of the building codes in the review of
building permits. Tax incentives were encouraged to ease the way for small businesses.
Mr. Riordon was in constant conversations with the African-American community
leaders over these incentives. For the most part, he said they were supportive and it
continues to be about relationship building and incentives for whoever is interested in
starting a business, creating procedures that streamline the process whether it is a small,
medium or large business.
In order to encourage job creation, Riordon used the E5-Visa which was pursued by the
city in cooperation with the business community. Riordon suggested we research for
more details on the E5-Visa. The following is more detail on the E5-Visa.
Congress created the EB-5 immigrant investor visa category in the Immigration Act of
1990 in the hopes of attracting foreign capital to the US and creating jobs for American
workers in the process. The overall advantage of the EB-5 visa category is that it allows
the beneficiary to engage in commercial enterprise anywhere in the US subject only to
some restriction in the pilot program targeting certain areas which ran out in 2008. Do not
know whether or not the pilot program was extended. There are 10,000 visas available in
the category each year, one-half of which were reserved for people who participated in a
Pilot Program option designed for targeted investments in approved regional areas.
What are the basic requirements for the EB-5 visa?
There are three basic requirements as follows:
• First, the immigrant must establish a business or invest in an existing business that
was created or restructured after November 19, 1990.
• Second, invest $1 million ($500,000 in some cases) in the business.
• Third, the business must create full-time employment for at least 10 US workers.
How does the EB-5 investor meet the requirement for a qualifying business?
There are three ways of meeting the requirement a qualifying business:
• The creation of an original business;
• The purchase of an existing business with simultaneous restructuring or
reorganization such that a new commercial organization results; or
• Expansion of an existing business created after November 1990 through the
investment of the required amount and the creation of ten new jobs.
(Source: Visa Serve NPZ Law Group-Immigration and Nationality Law)
Next, Tom Walrab, Executive Director of Dayton Human Relations Council, outlined the
Welcome Dayton planning process. He identified the process as organic. The process
grew out of the Human Relations Council study of housing conditions for Hispanic
residents of Dayton. “it found that not only did civil rights “issues” impact
Hispanic residents, but other immigrant and refugee groups as well.
“The Dayton Human Relations Council has legal authority and acts on fair housing cases.
The Dayton Human Relations Council enforces ordinances and laws prohibiting
discrimination under the City of Dayton's R.C.G.O. Section 32.
It is illegal to deny anyone employment (Section 32.03), public accommodation (Section
32.04), housing (Section 32.05), or credit transactions (Section 32.06) on the basis of an
individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, place of birth, age, marital
status, familial status, disability, and sexual orientation/gender identity.” Source: City of
Dayton RCGO Section 32, Ordinance
With the support of the Dayton City Commission, the City Manager and the Police Chief,
the Human Relations Council implemented a community conversation. Walrab’s office
announced a date and time for the community to attend a meeting with this purpose in
mind. More than 100 people attended the initial meeting, including two professors from
the University of Dayton whose focus was immigrant studies. The attendees broke up
into small groups to discuss two questions.
The first question asked, “What have you noticed about how the City has benefited from
its new residents?” The response was spontaneous and overwhelming. Outcomes:
Businesses were started. Jobs were created. Houses were rehabilitated. Underused
buildings were reused and rejuvenated.
The second question asked was, “What is possible, if we become a city that intentionally
welcomes immigrants?” The answer produced such an enthusiastic response that forty
people committed to take ninety days to draft a plan that, if implemented, could result in
a city that supports newcomers who make Dayton their home. Work groups were set up:
Core Team, Business & Economic Development, Local Government & Justice System,
Social Services & Health Services and Community, Culture, Arts & Education. The plan
was submitted to the Dayton City Commission and passed along with a resolution for
implementation. This resolution created a part time position within the Human Relations
Council with the responsibility of coordinating the implementation of the Welcome
Dayton Plan.
The recommendation that immigrants be granted an I.D. Card has been controversial.
City Manager Riordon is not sure this recommendation will be implemented because he
feels some immigrants would become a target for law enforcement that may result in
deportation. This particular recommendation is still under discussion.
Coyle announced the conclusion of the presentation and thanked the speakers.
Closing Announcements: Pat Coyle, MARCC President
The next Delegates Council meeting is March 14th. Another date to put on your calendar
is February 21st, which will be our Annual Meeting. Our guest speaker will be Police
Chief James Craig.
Meeting adjourned at 1:15 pm