Future-Ready Cities: Unlocking Immigrant Talent for Inclusive Economic Growth

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[00:00:00.17] - Kate Hooper 

Welcome to today's briefing on Future Ready Cities: Unlocking Immigrant Talent for Inclusive Economic Growth. My name is Kate Hooper. I'm a Senior Policy Analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, and we're very pleased that you can join us here today. The majority of immigrants and refugees around the world live in cities. So when we're talking about economic integration, we're often talking about something that's happening in an urban setting. Immigrants and refugees make up an important and growing part of urban workforces, but there's plenty of evidence that they can struggle to find jobs that are commensurate with their skills and experience. Why does this matter? Put simply, for cities and local communities, this represents money left on the table because immigrants will earn less and consequently pay less in taxes and spend less in local economies. And at a time where employers are struggling to find workers with the right skills, and navigating the demands of the digital and green transitions and aging populations, overlooking this key part of your workforce frankly makes very little sense. We know that this problem can be attributed to a few different things like language barriers, difficulties getting credentials recognized, a lack of local networks to find jobs, and gaps in training and experience. 
 

And all of these are issues that can be addressed by investing in training and local services. But what do you prioritize? What offers the best bang for your buck? And how do you deal with the issue that cities have lots of burning priorities on their lists and typically not enough money to go around? So part of our conversation today is about showing why investing in economic inclusion can benefit everyone, not just migrants and refugees, and why cities should consider this as a critical tool in their broader efforts to ensure economic growth and prosperity. Today, we're very excited to launch a new report by the Migration Policy Institute and the Mayors Migration Council on creating inclusive urban economies for migrants and refugees. We have a stellar group of speakers who you'll hear from today, including two of my brilliant colleagues, Abigail and Maria Jesus Mora, Samer Saliba from the Mayors Migration Council, and Gilberto Pinela from the city of St. Louis in Missouri. Very unfortunately, Katharina Bamberg from Eurocities isn't able to join us today as she's sick, but we wish her a very speedy recovery and hope to bring her into another conversation soon. I'm going to turn now to my colleagues, María Jesús and Abby, to share some key findings from the report that we are launching today. 

[00:02:28.04] - María Jesús Mora 

Thank you, Kate, and hello everyone and welcome. Today we're looking at what it takes to build future-ready inclusive urban economies and why migrant and refugee inclusion has to be part of that broader economic conversation. At MPI, questions around how to help diverse groups access work and opportunity are not new. So here, what is new is the context. The conditions cities are operating in have shifted in important ways. They are still central engines of economic growth and opportunity, but the labor markets and urban systems that are, that they are managing are changing quickly. So there are 3 trends that we want to highlight that are especially important. First, technological change, including the rise of AI, are transforming the world of work, redefining how, where, and in what roles people work. Second, cities are at the front lines of the, of the climate crisis, with huge numbers of people moving to urban areas highly vulnerable to climate pressures. A 2024 C40 Mayors Migration Council study estimated that by 2050, 8 million people may move to 10 cities due to climate change. At the same time, cities are trying to build greener local economies to get to mitigate these changes, but that requires finding workers with the right skills. 
 

And thirdly, population changes are reshaping urban economies. However, they're doing so unevenly across regions and local labor markets. So some cities, especially in lower and middle income countries, are growing rapidly, sometimes alongside rising migration. And the question there is how to prepare housing, local services, and infrastructure for significant population growth. In other cities, they're facing the exact opposite. So shrinking populations, aging workforces, and dwindling tax bases that can make it much harder to sustain services and infrastructure. Those cities may also need to think much more urgently about workforce gaps in areas like healthcare and social care. So the challenge here for cities is not just inclusion in a static sense, it's inclusion in the middle of rapid economic, climate, and demographic change. With that, I'll pass it on to Abby to talk more specifically about our study. 

[00:04:46.09] - Abigail Goldfarb 

Thanks, MJ. So that brings us to our study and the resulting paper published today. In brief, this report asks what cities are doing across different contexts to support the economic inclusion of migrants and refugees and identifies some lessons and best practices to take forward. We conducted a global desk review looking at local data on inclusion and available evidence on trends, barriers, and promising practices. We complemented this broader desk review with 8 city case studies mapped out on the screen here. These cities included St. Louis in the US, Guadalajara, Mexico, Cuenca, Ecuador, Kanifing, The Gambia, Gdańsk in Poland, Jijiga, Ethiopia, Chiang Mai in Thailand, and Quezon City in the Philippines. We picked these case studies to understand how economic inclusion plays out across very different urban contexts, selecting cities based not only on geographic diversity but also a mix of migration contexts, institutional settings, and local approaches. And to briefly preview before diving into the results from our analysis, our study focused on two high-impact areas where cities are working better to harness migrants' economic potential: addressing underemployment of migrants and refugees, and supporting self-employment and entrepreneurship. First, on employment, immigrants and refugees make up an increasing share of urban workforces worldwide, so making sure they can access decent work and apply their skills really matters, especially as many cities face labor shortages in key sectors. 
 

This means not just supporting labor market entry, but also helping migrants apply existing skills, build new ones, and access jobs that match their qualifications. In Gdańsk, for instance, the city's labor agency provides dedicated support for migrants and refugees, including resume and interview prep and soft skills workshops, helping newcomers access roles better aligned with their experiences and skills. Supporting migrant and refugee entrepreneurship was another important focus area. Across the cities we studied, support for entrepreneurs ranged from early-stage startup assistance to longer-term business development support. In St. Louis, for instance, partnerships like the St. Louis Mosaic Project and Afghan Chamber of Commerce connect immigrant entrepreneurs to financing networks, mentorship opportunities, helping their businesses grow and integrate in the local economy. And before I hand it back to MJ, just briefly returning to the why. Beyond filling gaps in local labor markets, there's a clear economic case for prioritizing inclusion. Cities are missing out fiscally if immigrants and refugees are unable to access employment commensurate with their skills. Analysis from MPI found that in the US, for instance, underemployment of college-educated immigrants cost the US $39 billion in lost wages and $10 billion in tax revenue. We also know that migrants and refugees are more likely to be entrepreneurs, so it's in cities' interest to help them and their businesses succeed. 
 

Across OECD countries in the 10-year period from 2011 to 2021, migrant entrepreneurship generated 3.9 million jobs, equating to 15% of total employment growth. There's a clear macroeconomic argument for investing in inclusion and reducing barriers to work and self-employment for immigrants and refugees, but local communities critically also need to see how inclusion serves their own interests and contributes to shared prosperity. This is where city leaders have a critical role to play, as they are uniquely positioned to make this case to local residents and showcase the shared benefits of inclusion, as well as the costs that come with failing to make these investments. I'll pass it back to MJ to begin running through some of the key findings from our study. 

[00:08:01.12] - María Jesús Mora 

Thank you, Abby. So the question, the central question then is not what a perfect model looks like. It's how cities can use the tools, resources, and political capital at their disposal to make meaningful progress. So across our research, we found that there's 3 cross-cutting principles that kept coming up. The first principle is that access is not enough. So many interventions still focus on helping migrants and refugees get that first job or access a service. And of course, that absolutely matters. But economic inclusion is an ongoing process, not a one-off intervention. So for employment, the key question is whether people can move into stable jobs, better pay, and stronger career prospects over time. A good example is mentoring. An evaluation of a long-running mentoring initiative in Toronto found that participants were twice as likely to find quality employment after 3 months of mentoring. For entrepreneurship, the same logic applies. There are great examples of cities improving early access to entrepreneurship in Kanifing, the city is helping migrants and disadvantaged groups access market stalls. But we also found that many entrepreneurs lose assistance just as they begin to make their businesses viable. Our research, however, did uncover some great programs focused beyond that startup phase. 
 

In Quito, for example, some programs connect migrants and entrepreneurs with buyers, suppliers, and other business owners so they can grow beyond the small and isolated markets that they find themselves at the beginning. The second principle is on alignment. So cities cannot invest across the whole job readiness continuum, especially under budget pressures. So strategic alignment with local labor demand is key. That means connecting newcomers to high-growth sectors and those facing labor shortages using matching, upskilling, reskilling, and credential recognition strategically, and making sure that migrants and refugees are part of workforce strategies linked to the green transition, digitalization, and other local priorities instead of a parallel agenda. So the Work Ready Denver program is a good example. It connects asylum seekers with hard-to-fill jobs in hospitality, construction, healthcare, and green energy. And in Manta, Ecuador, there's a program that's providing digital market skills training for displaced and local women in the food and textile sectors, and that's preparing them for an increasingly digital economy. The last and third principle is durability. So durable ventures are not just technically sound. They are the ones that can hold up politically over time and that can garner broader support. In practice, process that usually means designing approaches with visible benefits for both newcomers and longer, longer-term residents. 
 

These measures are easier to sustain and harder to roll back, and often the highest impact interventions are not labeled as immigrant integration measures at all because they're embedded in broader city systems and priorities, and they improve access and opportunity for all. So cities in Latin America, for example, have focused on structural challenges affecting displaced workers and local Residents alike, and that gives them and the programs a much stronger political ground and more stable funding. So now I will pass it on to Abby to talk about how to put these 3 principles into practice. 

[00:11:40.15] - Abigail Goldfarb 

Thank you, MJ. So to conclude, we wanted to briefly highlight some of the key recommendations from our report. We identified several steps cities can take to strengthen economic inclusion efforts at the local level. And I'll run through these quickly and excited to discuss them more during the Q&A and share our report. The first is setting the agenda and tone. City leaders play a really vital role in shaping how economic inclusion is understood at the local level, especially in context when political priorities at the national and local level are in tension with one another. The way that local officials communicate, invest in welcoming infrastructure, and include migrants and refugees in long-term planning can help create stronger conditions for inclusion over time. Uh, the next is breaking down silos. Even when cities may face limited authority or constrained financial resources, they can still influence how economic inclusion efforts are coordinated and prioritized locally. Bringing together policy areas like employment, housing, and education can help cities move from fragmented programs to a more coherent and comprehensive approach to inclusion. Uh, the next is on data. A key challenge that emerged for cities across the board was limited access to localized data on migrant communities and their economic outcomes over time, making it incredibly difficult to understand how migrants are faring local labor markets and where investments are needed. 
 

While investing in monitoring and evaluation can be resource intensive, many cities already collect valuable data on migrants that could provide insights into their economic inclusion. Things like public employment service records, municipal services use, or business registration data. Tapping into these sources can help cities make more informed policy decisions and build a more compelling case for future investment. Then on funding and financing, as municipal budgets face increasing strain in many parts of the world, Exploring promising pooled funding and matching programs that blend public and private resources can help make local inclusion programs more sustainable and scalable over time. Bringing in newcomer perspectives is also incredibly important. Economic inclusion programs work best when they're meaningfully shaped by input from the individuals and communities they're designed to support. That means co-design processes cannot simply be symbolic. Cities need to genuinely incorporate the perspectives of migrants, refugees, employers, and civil society counterparts into how programs are designed and implemented. Next is planning for future labor market needs. As technology and AI continue to reshape the jobs available in cities, cities need flexible systems that can adapt to changing workforce demands. That means employment services that prepare both newcomers and local workers for emerging opportunities, including jobs that increasingly require digital and AI skills. 
 

And finally, appealing to a diverse coalition of stakeholders to make the practical case for inclusion. Successful inclusion initiatives often depend as much on building political and public support as on technical program design. Identifying shared interests that transcend political differences or humanitarian arguments and clearly communicating economic benefits to local business leaders or community members can help sustain long-term support and investment for inclusion. So that's it from our side. I'll turn it back to Kate, but we look forward to sharing our full study and for further discussion during the Q&A. Thank you very much. 

[00:14:46.09] - Kate Hooper 

Thank you both so much for giving a quick overview of the report, which you'll also find a link to in our chat. I want to turn now to Samer. So Samer, the Mayors Migration Council works with cities all around the world, including through your Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees, and you're working on several projects which are led by cities focused on economic inclusion. And I was wondering from your perspective, How can cities make the case for economic inclusion as part of these broader strategies around things like preparing for demographic change and for the digital and green transitions? 

[00:15:21.12] - Samer Saliba 

Thanks, Kate. Firstly, it was a pleasure to work with MPI and to support this work. It's crucial to put out the arguments out there and the evidence out there about how city governments can support migrants and refugees and how the broader ecosystem can support city governments in doing so. And I think from, from the report, it's becoming increasingly clear that it's not hard to make the case for economic inclusion of migrants and refugees at the city level. So Abby and MJ sort of went through some of the stats. I'll give you some more. It's not just that cities are not only home to the majority of the world's migrants and refugees, but they're also hubs of economic growth in and of themselves. They generate over 80% of the global GDP and account for 88% of private sector job creation. And because the majority of migrants and refugees live in cities, it's migrants and refugees who are largely responsible for flourishing urban economies. Migrants represent about 4% of the total global population, but they generate 9% of the global GDP. That's $7 trillion and more than twice their share of the global population to the world economy. 
 

And this is across displacement and migration contexts. I think one of the challenges that presented itself in this research was finding solutions and evidence across many different contexts, from low-income countries to middle-income countries to high-income countries. But we really found that migrants and refugees are driving higher earning potential, bringing new business ideas, and providing critical tax revenue for cities worldwide. Even if these migrants or refugees are undocumented or among the 2 billion people working in the informal economy globally. And at the MMC, we're trying not to view migrants and refugees in political frames of victim or villain because the mayors that we work with, and you're about to hear from, from one of those cities in St. Louis, they recognize migrants and refugees as assets. And cities just need the right financial and technical resources to unlock their potential. Our own Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees shows that mayors and the cities they lead know what works to turn economic inclusion into reality. And as you mentioned, Kate, we've now funded dozens of cities advancing economic inclusion across key approaches, which I'm very happy to talk to any— anybody about, including employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship, labor mobility, workforce development and authorization, wraparound services, and supporting a broader, more enabling legal policy environment to support lasting livelihoods, not just one-off job contracts, as the report touches on. 
 

And with this support, our city grantees are proving that migration is not a drain on resources, but an opportunity to jumpstart local economies. From Boston in the US launching the city's first immigrant-led home care cooperative serving the city's aging population to the city of Turin in Italy, enacting a city-led labor mobility pathway for refugees in Uganda to fill vacancies. So existing vacancies, bringing in refugees to fill those vacancies for green jobs in Italy, leveraging legal pathways at the national level. And Cali in Colombia, aiming to digitally verify the job credentials of nearly 30,000 migrants. And the 8 GCF cities that we launched in 2025, many of whom are here today, are alone expected to include more than 40,000 migrants and refugees in their urban economies globally. But as the report touches on, cities still need help charting the future of work, especially as many cities face new challenges such as the digitization of work, widening labor gaps in sectors critical to the green transition, or of course, the rise of AI and what that means for migrant and refugee economic inclusion. For example, I think MJ mentioned the research that we did with C40 projecting new arrivals into cities just due to climate migration. 
 

But we also did research with C40 that shows that 27 cities need 6 million additional workers to meet their green job demands, and that filling these green jobs could lead up up to $280 billion in their urban economic growth in a report that we just launched last year. So we're seeing that investments in economic inclusion are investments in urban growth, and they result in shared prosperity for all. But we all still need to make a concerted push forward to realize this and to really zero in, again, not on the political frames of victim or villain, but migration and displacement as an asset. So I'll say a little bit what's next for the MMC, and then I'm really curious to hear from others about what's next for them. But first, we need— we're focused on 3 things. We need more research on what works, not just your mom-and-pop entrepreneurship programs or your cash grants, but bold and future-looking approaches on topics like refugee financing, the use of AI to scale migrant-owned businesses, or diaspora funds to fuel green jobs. And more hard data on the ROI of these programs. Second, we need cities willing to be bold in their economic inclusion approaches using their own resources, which I know, trust me, I know is a hard ask. 
 

I receive probably hundreds of city government proposals saying they do not have enough money. So it's always hard for me to say like, well, you need to spend money to make money. But we need cities to start to use their own resources to test these new approaches. Even if it's not politically palatable. And I'm very excited to hear from St. Louis in a moment. And then lastly, we need funders and financiers to invest directly in city governments who are willing to try out these bold approaches and test what works in a changing global economy and a geopolitical environment where mayors are among the few thinking clearly about the economic benefits of migration. I'm happy to say that we'll be announcing new grantees continuing this work in September. We hope to have more research coming out, building on the strong partnerships that we built with MPI and others, and very excited to keep investing in this topic because it's so critically important, not just for migrants and refugees, not just for the economies of cities, but really for a new, a new frame of migration and displacement. As a potential for shared prosperity. Again, not just falling into political tropes. 
 

Thank you. 

[00:22:11.12] - Kate Hooper 

Thank you, Samer, and thank you for these excellent recommendations on what needs to happen next. I'm going to turn now to Gilberto from the city of St. Louis. Gilberto, you're working on ways to make St. Louis a more welcoming city for migrants and refugees at a time where the city is also navigating the effects of a shrinking population. So I was wondering if you could share a little bit about your work on the ground, you know, how you're seeing economic inclusion playing out, and how you're connecting immigrant integration to these broader city priorities around meeting labor market needs, supporting aging populations, and promoting economic growth. 

[00:22:45.14] - Gilberto Pinela 

Okay. First of all, thank you for the opportunity and thank you for MPI, MMC to be a partner as we continue to grow. We have been on this path for the last 2 years here in St. Louis. With the establishment of the Office of New Americans. So I hit the ground running to make sure that we provide a bridge between the government and the community and see what the community needs and the organizations that are doing direct services to immigrants and refugees coming in and international talent that also comes to St. Louis. What are their needs and how can we as government help fulfill those needs, navigating through a very challenging environment because we are also ensuring that the city of St. Louis doesn't suffer from some of the policies that are impacting other cities at the national level. So in partnership with organizations like St. Louis Mosaic Project, which You did mention, uh, we created the hiring challenge, and that hiring challenge came, for example, from an idea from a meeting that we had at the mayor's office with students from universities that were having difficulty in getting hired as interns. And we challenged 10 companies. 
 

We had a student, for example, that, um, apply for 200 different internships at the local level, was invited to participate in 4 interviews out of those 200 applications, and got none internship. So what we did 2 summers, a summer and a half ago, or 2 summers ago, excuse me, we went ahead and challenged 10 businesses, 10 companies in the city and in the county to hire 10 international students. Out of those 10 companies, they hired 20 international students from the get-go. And it was a program that now, St. Louis was a project turned into a hiring challenge to get more companies in the St. Louis area to look at our international students that are on OPT and CPT. To be able to hire them as interns during the summer. Another program that we're collaborating with to ensure that immigrants and our international talents and refugees that come to St. Louis, they feel that they have a stake and they are prepared to be able to integrate into the workforce is the SLATE program, which is the St. Louis Agency of Training and Employment. Through SLATE, we are providing services. We're providing the tools and the skill sets that the immigrant needs in their language, in many cases, because we offer interpretation and translation services for them to prepare them to enter the workforce. 
 

And as long as you are work authorized, you are able to apply for a job with the city. And, um, the SLATE, what we'll do is that they will do hiring fairs so we can invite companies also to look at the resume and hire the individuals that are coming in that they need employment here in St. Louis. So we are navigating through a very challenging situation without any funding, but we are forcing or we're encouraging organizations to hire people and we're preparing them the best way we can with training and skill sets in order to continue. And I say other partnerships that are working in the same space, for example, the International Institute They are out in the country with Move to STL. They're visiting— Carlos Ramirez is visiting many places in the United States in order to recruit immigrants to come to St. Louis that are work authorized to be able to fulfill some of the jobs that we have. Once they get here, we have organizations working on training them and giving them skill sets. If you have an English, proficiency issue, we have programs like Empower at Washington University that offer not only English proficiency classes, but they also work on a certificate for you to be able to apply and, and to get the skill sets for a job in healthcare and other fields. 
 

And the St. Louis Public School System, they also have a comprehensive program, the SO program, to be able to teach not only the student that comes through the school in English proficiency, you know, giving them those skills, but also the parents. So we are working very, very aggressively, if I may say, in ensuring that our immigrant community, that our refugee community, and the work authorized and international talents when they come come to St. Louis, they're not only attracted by the affordability of our city, the opportunities that we have for employment, but also that they stay here because they see that we are including them and that they know that they belong here in the city. 

[00:28:48.24] - Kate Hooper 

Thank you so much, Gilberto, and thank you also for bringing in that point about retention, because I think, as you say, you know, not just about, you know, helping people find work, but it's also about helping them put down roots so they stay and become critical parts of the economy. So really, really useful overview. We're now going to turn to the Q&A for the rest of this webinar. There are instructions for how to put a question in the Q&A. You'll see a little Q&A box, so please add any questions for the speakers. But we've already had a few, so we'll start running through some of these questions from the audience. The first question we've received is about how you connect support for employment with other interventions that make employment possible. So things like stable housing, childcare, access to transportation, and all of those other enabling factors that help people enter and stay in the workforce. I don't know if perhaps we could turn first to Gilberto to talk about, you know, if St. Louis is thinking about sort of those webs of support before bringing in the other speakers. 

[[FOR THE Q&A PORTION OF THE TRANSCRIPT, SPEAKERS ARE NOT IDENTIFIED BY NAME. PLEASE SEE THE RECORDING TO IDENTIFY SPEAKERS.]] 

[00:29:49.12] - Speaker 5 

Yeah, so here in St. Louis, we work with organizations like Welcome Neighbor. We work with the International Institute and other organizations that are providing those services. Even an organization that's doing in-home English learning for the wives of the individuals that are out working and they are stay-at-home moms. So we are looking for ways to be innovative and creative with different organizations that are working already on that space to create those opportunities for individuals when they come here. They don't feel that they are out in the desert, as they say. They feel that we have a support system that can help them out. The only You know, we as government, obviously the funding is the difficulty. So now we're working on a welcoming plan thanks to the collaboration and the participation in the G4G, the Gateways for Growth Cohort Round 6 that we just joined. And we're working on a welcoming plan to also engage the private sector. Sector and think about holistically how we as a community, as a city, and a region will work on assisting those organizations that are at the ground level, uh, helping fulfill the needs of those communities. How can we as a region, as a city, collectively using the private sector and the public sector being able to fund some of those needs so those community organizations can continue doing the work and we can expand it. 

[00:31:48.12] - Speaker 1 

Thank you, Gilberto. Samer, did you want to add anything on this point about employment and sort of the surrounding supports that make employment possible? 

[00:31:56.18] - Speaker 4 

Sure. I think, you know, I used to work at the International Rescue Committee, an international humanitarian organization, which everything was very divided into technical areas, you know, from livelihoods to protection to education, etc. The benefit that cities have is that they don't have those boundaries. They're, they're, they're— we like to say that cities are inherently good multitaskers. And when it comes to economic inclusion, you need to multitask. And I think it depends on the core issue that's preventing people from accessing livelihoods. In Medellín, for example, the city that we funded through the Global Cities Fund, it was housing. People, you know, struggled just to have even temporary housing. And so that had knock-on effects in terms of putting their kids to school or finding work. The city was able to fast-track a 3-month temporary housing for Venezuelan refugees in the cities. And within those 3 months, 90% of the families that participated in the program were able to find permanent housing on their own accord because the city used that 3 months to provide wraparound services, including livelihood support as well as registration for temporary protected status. And it's because of those things, using housing as the entry point, that families were able to, to find permanent housing on their own accord. 

[00:33:14.04] - Speaker 4 

Another example that we have is a number of cities implementing two-generational approaches, particularly for caregivers of young children who, like having a roof over their head, need to care for their children before they start thinking about a job. So cities like Kanifing, cities like Accra, cities like, I believe, Kaiserslautern City that we're funding are making sure that caregivers who are participating in what's first and foremost a livelihoods program have a place to send their kids and make sure that their kids are accounted for. So again, this depends on the context. In Accra, migrant women were bringing their children to very toxic waste sites where they were engaging informally in waste picking. So the city not only formalized their work, provided them with greater health benefits, et cetera, et cetera, but also literally built a school for their children nearby some of these work sites to make sure that they, A, that their children were cared for, and B, that they didn't need to bring their children into these harmful environments. So we have lots more examples about this. For folks that are more interested in the, in the Global Cities Fund and the different examples that we have, you can visit mayorsmigrationcouncil.org/gcf to learn more about these projects and so many others. 

[00:34:34.14] - Speaker 1 

Thanks, Samer. And that actually segues nicely to our next question, which was about what cities with large informal economies should prioritize when it comes to economic inclusion. And Maria Jesus, I know that this was a kind of theme of our report, so perhaps you would want to say a few words about sort of that question of how economic inclusion is playing out in informal economies versus more formalized economies and what some of the distinctions might be. 

[00:34:59.13] - Speaker 2 

Yes, thank you, Kate. And that was definitely a point of tension throughout our study. And one of the things that we realized is that there are many economies, especially especially in, for example, Sub-Saharan Africa and in many places in Latin America that are largely informal. So the pipeline of moving workers from informal economies to formal economies is not necessarily the most productive route or the, yes, the best template, let's say. So for example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, speaking with stakeholders, that are regional experts and also with stakeholders tied to a local mayor's office. Some things that they're doing is prioritizing the trading, migrants and refugees being able to trade safely in the streets, for example. And that often means like establishing or creating market stalls so they are able to have places where they can trade safely alongside other community members or making sure that they are not being harassed in the street or things of that sort. So that might look very differently and a very, it's a very different intervention to what we're used to like in other settings. In other places that we worked with, for example, in Chiang Mai in Thailand, where some workers might not necessarily have work authorization to work in all of the, in all of these sectors. 

[00:36:41.02] - Speaker 2 

And they are, they are very specific sectors that they can work in. One thing that they really highlighted is the importance of transmitting and making sure that workers, especially those in the informal economy, know that they have rights and what those rights are. So they are able to enforce these and make them feel empowered when they're talking to employers and argue for those rights that they do have, especially in the informal economies. And that goes to say, and that, yep, that translates to some case studies in, for example, in Mexico cities that we talked to where not all migrants have necessarily legal status, but even so, they do have work rights that should be respected. And there's a lot of international organizations that are working with them so that to make sure that they understand them. And if local governments do not necessarily have the legal, like, availability to work with them in that respect, there's a lot that they can do in channeling them to organizations that can actually work with them, for example, NGOs that don't necessarily have the same boundaries. 

[00:38:07.11] - Speaker 1 

Thanks so much, MJ. That was a great overview. So we've had a question in the Q&A, which is about how you balance the importance of upskilling and employment advancement with the reality that, you know, refugees often have to find the first job available and start earning money to support their families. And I thought I would turn that to Abby, who based in our Brussels office. I think she can talk a little bit about how that actually changes a little bit depending on sort of European versus more US approaches. 

[00:38:36.23] - Speaker 3 

Yeah, thanks, Kate, and thank you for the question. I think this is another key tension that emerged when we look at economic inclusion pathways over the course of our study. There is this certainly importance placed on rapid economic self-sufficiency in the US, and I think because we did this global scan, it was interesting to see how this varies across contexts. In Europe, there's often a bit of a longer lead-in, a bit more support for upskilling before entering the labor market. Where in the US, that focus is really placed on getting into the job market as quickly as possible. So upskilling needs to happen alongside work. And we did uncover some examples in our research in the US context where there's a bit more support there. The Welcoming Center in Philadelphia comes to mind where donor support and including city grants was included to provide immigrants with free English language instruction and training in digital skills and workplace communications. So ensuring that there's tailored career services that are accessible and free for migrants and refugees while they're already in employment, I think, is incredibly essential there. And I think the question also asked about building this case to employers, which is a really important thread to pull through there. 

[00:39:50.09] - Speaker 3 

In general, ensuring that upskilling programs are framed as an upfront investment that can yield long-term returns to employers across sectors is a theme that came through across our research and the cities that we studied. Yeah, thanks, Kate. I'll turn it back to you there unless anyone else wanted to add more. 

[00:40:08.08] - Speaker 1 

No, that's great, Abby. Thank you. We've got lots of questions. I'm sort of doing a speed round to try and get to as many as we can. So we had a question and I might turn this to Samer about the Italy program and how it's an example of cities trying to connect, you know, to basically get more involved directly in the recruiting process. So there was a question there about, you know, is this something that's happening in the US, which I don't believe is the case, but they were curious to hear a little bit more about how that program is working in practice. So would you mind providing a few more details to the audience? 

[00:40:40.10] - Speaker 4 

Sure. So at the MMC, we focus a lot on city-led pathways or city-to-city pathways, and one of the main pathways that we focus on because it's a bit more palatable and implementable is labor mobility specifically. So in Turin, we're funding the mayor and his team, as I mentioned, to fill gaps within their green economy. Literally bus drivers is a key gap that they have with an aging population, but other sectors as well. And they're working with cities in Uganda and with IOM and UNHCR, as well as a partner named Pathways International, to identify refugees in Uganda, have them interview for jobs in Italy, and literally, as we say, put butts on planes, get them on a plane, fly them over to Italy, get them set up with temporary— not temporary, but the first few months of housing, a few months of social integration support, and they're landing with a job contract. The reason that's possible is that Despite what you see on the face of Italy's national politics around migration, there are still— I don't want to call them loopholes, they're laws that facilitate the labor mobility of refugees into Italy. We're happy to share the specific laws. 

[00:42:02.02] - Speaker 4 

I haven't committed them to memory yet. But that's just one case of a city actually being an implementer and an innovator Despite the fact that border regimes and national policies around migration are held by the national government. There aren't cross-border examples within the US, but there are internal examples within the US. I'm thinking of our work with the City of New York when they had over 200,000 asylum seekers arrive on their doorstep in 2024, I believe was the height of it. And then they started working with cities of Buffalo, cities upstate, We had conversation, we connected them to City of St. Louis to facilitate movement as well. And we're starting this work again, similar to Italy, in the Americas. We have a program called Mayors of the Americas Task Force on Migration that is specifically trying to focus more regionally on mayors that are leading on migration within the Americas, including in the US. And seeing who among those cities can potentially facilitate pathways between them because, you know, there might be people in Bogotá that need a job in Montevideo or those sorts of things. We will be making announcement on that over the summer. 

[00:43:18.07] - Speaker 4 

I'll keep it closed-lipped for now. But there's, there's so many good examples and part of the benefit of having Gilberto on is like the city of St. Louis is losing people. The only The one statistic that the city of St. Louis says is the best thing that, that contributes to their economic growth and their sustainability as a city is new arrivals. So for all the sort of political hee-hawing that's happening at the national level, cities are looking for practical solutions to bring people in and fill jobs because that is quite frankly what they need. And so Pathways, and we're very happy to be supporting Turin and other projects in the future, are sort of showing the common sense approaches leveraging national government policies to again, not just pit people as, as victim or villain, but just assets that cities need to survive. And so we're very happy to have examples in Europe, have examples in the US though internal, and in the future examples in Latin America. 

[00:44:19.14] - Speaker 1 

Thank you, Samer. And Gilberto, did you want to come in too? 

[00:44:22.05] - Speaker 5 

Yeah, I, I just want to add that yes, you know, we, we are in the midst of a winter demographic. As we call it, as we know it. And we have lost 23,000 people since 2020 in the city of St. Louis. So it's important that we not only attract, and that's what we're working on, but also retain those individuals so they can feel, they can grow population and contribute to the economy. So programs like the International Institute, as I mentioned before, they move to STL, and the Afghan Support Program, which brings people from other states for internal, internal migration, provide them with housing for a certain period, and then also provide them with a job in order for them to stay here. We want them to stay here, those families to grow roots here. Another opportunity that we have that we have partnered with is with, again, with the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and the Afghan Support Program. Afghan entrepreneurs get $20,000 if they apply for an award so they can open up a business here in St. Louis. And we had 3 that got $20,000 each. To be able to open up their business. 

[00:45:51.11] - Speaker 5 

And, and then they get training through Square One, which is one of the programs that serves entrepreneurs. And, and the city also, I started a program called Doing Business with the City to take the foreign-born entrepreneur, the immigrant entrepreneur that wants to do a business because they do not want to go into the workforce They want to do business, so we want to train them on how to effectively gain a contract to do business with the City of St. Louis, from opening up, getting a license to do business, to getting your, your health license if you're a caterer, or business assistance programs to be able to navigate through the bureaucracy that we have in government. And then successfully gain contracts. So yes, we're being very proactive in making sure that not only attract but retain new American force to come here to St. Louis and establish roots. 

[00:46:59.16] - Speaker 1 

Thank you, Gilberto. So we've had a question about what messaging you think is most effective to showcase the benefits of economic inclusion and also how this messaging can still be sensitive to the economic challenges that other groups of long-term residents might also be experiencing. So I was wondering if I could first turn that to Gilberto and how you're sort of navigating this need to create, you know, programming that's sensitive to immigrant needs, but also which is inclusive of other sort of dynamics in the city. And then I might turn it to the panel as a whole. 

[00:47:31.10] - Speaker 5 

You know, having listening sessions with community organizations that are working in the space, and that are paying attention to what's going on in their, the immigrant communities that we offer, that we have here in St. Louis. I think it's most important for us to ensure that we provide not only a message, we send a message, but we also provide that comfort that people know that they belong. It is important to have those organizations at the table.. And then taking into consideration the, the people that are here already that are also in need and getting to, getting to a point where we can place the organizations that are working at the space to be able to teach and to create awareness amongst the population that these individuals are not coming over here to take away, but they're coming over here to contribute and be a part of the solution, both in population growth, but also in economic growth and development too. Having the organization sitting at the table and then doing the cross awareness of each other and getting to know each other, I think it's something that is working for us here in St. Louis. 

[00:49:00.16] - Speaker 1 

Thank you, Gilberto. María Jesús and Abby, I know that there are a few examples of this that we also identified in our report where there was this kind of navigation between, you know, where it's appropriate to have targeted programming that's most efficient, and then where there are examples of creating mainstreaming programs precisely to address this concern that, you know, some populations might be benefiting from some services that aren't then accessible possible to others. Would you mind just providing a little bit of an overview of some of those examples and talking about how that played out in our research? 

[00:49:33.02] - Speaker 2 

Yes, I'll start. Thank you, Kate. And yeah, I think that goes back to the question or the third principle about establishing win-win measures and the benefits or the pros and cons between standalone services and mainstream mainstreaming services and tweaking the services that just, that already exists at the city level so they are more accessible for migrants and refugees. So mainstreaming services are definitely more politically palpable, palatable, but they need to, they need to make sure that they do have the appropriate seats so they are accessible for Newcomers, for example, having information or translation in the language of newcomers is especially important at the beginning when they are just arriving and are trying to get acquainted with the regulatory environment that they are now operating in. So a good example is Chicago's Welcoming Ordinance that allowed— previously allowed migrants and refugees to access city-run entrepreneurship resources, but they also established, like, these separate quarterly events for immigrant entrepreneurs. Then afterwards, these were mainstreamed to reduce the perception of preferential treatment. And because the city was already running these entrepreneurship programs, moving into a more mainstream system will not only allow them to be more cost-effective and financially sustainable,, but also for it to be like more politically sustainable across time and to avoid backlash with the Chicago residents as well. 

[00:51:20.02] - Speaker 2 

So the same goes for entrepreneurship services we found in our study. So at the beginning, it's also a question about when, when and where it's standalone services. Versus mainstream services are more useful. Definitely at the beginning, we found that for entrepreneurship services, there are specific things that newcomers might need that locals do not necessarily need as much, like access to information about what are the legal requirements to set up a business. Um, just talking about having translators again, that are able to explain to them how to navigate the city. But in beyond the startup phase, what was more helpful for entrepreneurs is if they were able to be channeled into mainstream services that the city was already having that would also allow them to connect with other entrepreneurs that are embedded in local economies. So at that point, if it is not only more helpful for them to create more sustainable businesses, but at the same time, it also helps with the public perception of and the public messaging of who these services are for and who they're benefiting. 

[00:52:44.08] - Speaker 1 

Thanks, MJ, so much. Abby, did you want to come in on any of this? 

[00:52:49.04] - Speaker 3 

Yeah, thank you. I think MJ brought up a couple of key examples from our research. So maybe just to sum up some of the key points, you know, this question was about messaging. And I think messaging is very essential, but it also only goes so far, especially when that messaging is about macroeconomic benefits. You know, the impacts of migration on GDP, that might be too abstract for what local communities are experiencing in their day-to-day lives and the pressures that they might be feeling in terms of economic pressures locally. So I think as MJ mentioned, the most effective messaging is really grounded in tangible local benefits and fairness. So programs like what we see in Chicago that are mainstreamed, they're not framed as special treatment, reducing the perception that resources are being diverted away from local communities and instead focusing on approaches that really focus on shared prosperity and services that are expanding for all residents. 

[00:53:42.23] - Speaker 1 

Thank you. So we have another question, which is about how involved the private sector has been in funding these economic inclusion projects and sort of what their interests in investing in economic inclusion are and some of the challenges that can be encountered when trying to sort of make the pitch to the private sector. And I was wondering if Gilberto or Samer wanted to comment on this about sort of how you bring the private sector on board, you know, best strategies for communicating the benefits and why they should invest proactively in inclusion as part of their work. 

[00:54:16.11] - Speaker 5 

Yeah, as I mentioned before, with the Afghan Support Program, we have private donations of $20,000 for entrepreneurs, and this is an award that's given on a yearly base— well, on a more than a yearly basis. I think it's every 3 months they give this award to at least 3 entrepreneurs. That is is intentional by private organization to be able to do that by— because they see not only that the opportunity that this offers for this new entrepreneurs to establish themselves here in St. Louis, but also they want to send the message to other corporate entities and organizations that are in the private sector to be able to contribute. And there are more examples that I can give you, but I can't go over the hour. Work. So, uh, of what we're doing here at the local level, but that is, that program alone has been able not only to produce economic opportunity for the entrepreneur, but also has demonstrated that yes, we can do it working together, the public sector and the private sector, and make it successful. 

[00:55:36.05] - Speaker 1 

Thank you, Gilberto. Since we are almost at the hour, perhaps I can turn to another question. So, Samer, I know that you've been very kindly answering a couple of questions in the Q&A already about MMC's work, but there's a question from the audience about your mention of innovative approaches to funding in your opening comments, including diaspora funding for green jobs. Would you mind just saying a little bit more about these initiatives? 

[00:55:59.21] - Speaker 4 

It's very hard because we're just starting these up, but there's so many. I mean, the report itself mentions a pooled fund within Mexico that's going to be funding specific cities within Mexico to support employment, generally speaking. We have many examples of revolving funds that cities are using where clients who successfully secure employment or secure an income through other means pay back into the fund, and then that fund revolves back to other clients. That can benefit. A good example of this is a project we funded in Freetown back in 2020, where there were tricycle groups that received the equipment, literally a tricycle, to collect waste from registered households and receive payment for collecting that waste. The groups had to pay back 60% of that loan, and with that repayment, the city was able to add, just keep adding entrepreneurship groups. I was in Freetown in 2025, and one of those teams of 3 people now employs 100 people in waste management and is up for a contract from the city government to really, you know, take care of a sixth of the city's waste management, starting from, you know, a bike and a basket on the back of that bike. 

[00:57:20.11] - Speaker 4 

So those types of revolving funds are fantastic. We're looking— Kanifing in The Gambia is exploring with a diaspora fund. Some of our new grantees that we'll be announcing later this year are exploring diaspora funds. Those are for more outmigration context, preventing people from leaving places like Sub-Saharan Africa and leveraging the success that others have had in Europe or who may want to return home, paying back into their origin communities, their home communities. These are all drops in the bucket, though. So we want to keep testing these out. We're actively developing a municipal finance strategy, which will guide our work into the next 3 years, actively having conversations with fantastic partners at development banks and places like this. And so more, more to be said in the future than I can say now, but definitely an area of focus for us. 

[00:58:12.19] - Speaker 1 

Thank you, Samer, and also a theme that we, as you mentioned, explore in our report. So definitely recommend checking out the report on this topic as well. So one final question for the group before we wrap the webinar. There was a question about what networks are available to encourage the sharing of best practices between different cities, especially those smaller and middle-sized cities. And I thought perhaps I'd start with Samer there and then open it up to Gilberto as well, if you have time to stay for just a couple of minutes to talk about, you know, in your experience, where St. Louis is able to share its best practices or learn from others and where some gaps gaps might be. 

[00:58:50.01] - Speaker 4 

We have a wealth of experience for the Global Cities Fund. We do need to get better at putting out the evidence. I think this report is actually a step in the right direction for that. There's so many good examples in the report from cities that we've worked with hand in hand and the good work that we're doing. Again, you can visit our website, and then we have excellent partners in C40, UNHCR, IOM that are constantly putting out these types of resources. Again, we don't have like a formal learning network across all cities. That's something we could explore into the future. But to continuously learn about these projects, I recommend everybody here sign up for our newsletter, which you can find on our website. 

[00:59:28.05] - Speaker 1 

And Gilberto, did you want to add anything here about where in your experience you're actually able to sort of make those exchanges happen? 

[00:59:34.23] - Speaker 5 

Yeah. So Welcome in America and the National Partnership of New Americans It is a very important network for us to be involved with, you know, MPI, AMC, American Immigration Council. We learn so much from all the best practices that everybody is sharing and exchanging. So I recommend everybody, you know, who's here, who's participating in this webinar, to join one of those organizations if you're not that already have done so. Also, you know, through Welcoming America and the American Immigration Council, I not only got the G4G grant, but also got to have a global peer, as I mentioned before, in New Zealand. So I'm learning how they handle immigration in New Zealand as to how we handle immigration here in the United States. And we're learning best practices from each other. So it is very important work. And I think that organizations like Welcome in America, they're doing a fantastic job in sharing their knowledge with, with the general community or the people that participate in those networks. 

[01:00:49.12] - Speaker 1 

Thank you so much. So we're at the hour and I wanted to thank all of our speakers and most of our audience for joining us today. I'm sorry if we didn't get to all the questions that we got through the Q&A, but we tried to get to as many as we could in the time allotted. The related report, Creating Inclusive Urban Economies for Migrants and Refugees, is now available on MPI's website. You can see a link here and a link in the chat as well. We'll also make an audio and video recording of today's conversation available on MPI's websites, and any reporters on the call can contact Michelle Mittelstadt [email protected] with any questions. Thank you again for joining us, and thank you for your interest in our work.