Calling all immigrants

A new bill introduced in City Council would create a director of immigrant affairs for the city, with the goal of encouraging more immigrants to come to Philadelphia.

The advantage of creating a new office for immigrant affairs in Philadelphia, Kenney said, "is that we would be working to attract people who are hungry to succeed and who are willing to work hard to do it. They would be coming in and working hard at the jobs they get, creating jobs by opening businesses, and buying houses and improving neighborhoods. We should be tapping into that."

This effort (sponsored by Kenney and Ramos) would dovetail with a Street initiative (Global Philadelphia) from last year to provide on-call translators to new arrivals who may not speak English. Apparently similar programs have been good for Boston and some other cities; this idea was introduced before but put aside after 9/11...

(via America's Hometown)