Global Cleveland

The Magic of Cleveland in One Astonishing School

By Joe Cimperman

Aniya is smiling. We went to her classroom at Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy in the heart of the MetroWest Neighborhood at West 46 and Clark Avenue. She is smiling because she met someone who not only speaks Turkish, but through the incredible providence and serendipity that is Cleveland she met a man who grew up in her village near the Turkish/Syrian border. This newfound friend, a guest of the German Marshall program through the incredible generosity of the Cleveland Foundation, was with Global Cleveland as we staffed one of a hundred introductions to this amazing Cleveland Metropolitan District school. This school is truly one of a kind, and we owe a debt of gratitude to CMSD for establishing it.

Started under the leadership of then Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon (now our phenomenal superintendent and CEO of CMSD) Thomas Jefferson, TJINA, is a pre-eminent school of excellence for students pre-k through 12^th grade who speak English as a second language (or not at all). Its enrollment is a barometer of Cleveland’s success attracting International Newcomers.

In August of 2016, 605 students were enrolled, coming from 30 nations, speaking 19 unique languages. By May of 2016, there were 990 students from over 40 nations, with an eye popping 31 languages spoken. The children at this school are smart, hard working, dedicated, and magical. The teachers and teacher’s aides and staff and Principal and Dean of Students are amazing as well. Why this school and the students and the surrounding community are so important is straightforward:

1. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County continue to attract newcomers.
2. CMSD is an amazing District with capacity and excellence to not only welcome these young leaders but to educate and integrate them.
3. In spite of the false rhetoric and unhelpful national coarse discourse on International Newcomers and welcoming and Displaced Personss and visas, this school and these students prove that there is more light than smoke, and their becoming vital parts of Northeastern Ohio’s success are true, economic, and supportive of popular demographic trends.

Rich Exner, the demographics expert for The Plain Dealer, uncovered a startling fact recently: between 2005-2015 there were almost 20,000 more people born internationally living in Greater Cleveland than in the previous 10 years.

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2017/03/international_Migration_a_popu.html

This is huge. In spite of the extreme vetting to the extreme amount (new citizens to-be already go through 14 serious security steps to come here) we know factually that International Newcomers give more than they take, https://globalcleveland.org/small-number-International Newcomers-giving-cleveland-mighty-big-boost/

Also, Displaced Personss exponentially return more than they are given, http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/09/estimated_number_of_Displaced Personss_l.html and Cleveland wouldn’t be Cleveland without newcomers. If you are reading this newsletter you know of what I speak.

Action item: we need your brain power, your muscles, and your creative compassion for Thomas Jefferson and her beautiful students. If you want to help amazing children now and not wait to read about them on the cover of Newsweek, they are right here. Help how? Volunteer, tutor, write about, learn about, share your own brilliance with these inspiring human beings, many of whom have gone through hell to get here, but clearly are in the best place they can be as their new home.

Why help? Because these are our kids and they are winners.  And they are on their way to inventing the cure for cancer, creating the next tech startup that will employ 500 native-born U.S. citizens, being great fathers and mothers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, architects, non-profit practitioners, and employees. My email is [email protected]  FYI, you should really think about this. If you want to do one thing to make the clouds move in a different direction, this is it. I guarantee you will be smiling, too. Have a great November.

by Global Cleveland

Ohio Companies Invited to Learn How to Do Business in Asia

Asia is home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world and many Ohio companies are exploring business opportunities in Asian nations. Others would like to know how to get started. The Ohio Asian American Economic Summit is designed for companies that are new to Asia and those that would like to expand their operations. It runs from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, November 14, at Ariel International Center, 1163 E. 40^th Street in Cleveland.

Business experts from Japan, China, India and Vietnam will discuss opportunities for trade between their nations and Ohio. Local CEOs who are doing business in Asia will share their insight. Lawyers and CPAs specialized in Asian economies will talk about legal and tax issues.

The conference will feature keynote addresses by the Honorable Mitsuhiro Wada, the consul general of Japan, and the Honorable Sandeep Chakravorty, the consul general of India, and end with a networking reception.

It is sponsored by the Ohio Asian American Pacific Islander Advisory Council, Ariel International center, Global Cleveland and Margaret W. Wong & Associates. To register, and to learn more, go to https://www.arielinternationalcenter.com/aic/EventregstartionForm.html

by Global Cleveland

New ‘Citizenship Corners’ Established In Local Library Branches

By: Christopher Hoey

Global Cleveland is dedicated to being a resource to the international community of Cleveland. In an attempt to make resources regarding citizenship more readily available, we will be partnering with 5 local library branches to install Citizenship Corners that will be stocked with pamphlets and other informational materials that can be of use to anyone looking to pursue American citizenship.

The five locations will include the Main Library – International Languages Department, Fulton branch, Lorain branch, Solon branch, and the North Olmsted branch. At each of these locations, local librarians will be able to direct visitors to their citizenship corner setup, explaining the resources that are made available to them.

Each corner will be stocked with copies of the USCIS Civics and Citizenship Toolkit, Naturalization Interview and Test Video, and various study materials for Naturalization tests. Lastly, this will also include a brochure, “10 Steps to Naturalization: Understanding the Process of Becoming a U.S. Citizen” aside the Form N-400, Application for Naturalization.

“We hope that by making these resources publicly available, we help to encourage others to become U.S. citizens and provide them tangible materials to help them in doing so.” said Jazmin Long.

These citizenship corners can be found in cities across the country. Global Cleveland, with the help and support of our libraries, hopes to have these citizenship corners established throughout the winter season.

Global Cleveland is actively empowering our international community by increasing awareness of citizenship opportunities and other pertinent areas of interest to International Newcomers.

by Global Cleveland

International Newcomer Business Spotlight: Micah Specialty Foods

Hungry for home, Nana, an International Newcomer from Ghana, recreates the flavors of Africa in Cleveland

It was natural that Nana Kwamena Takyi-Micah felt homesick that first year at Hiram College. He missed his family, 5,000 miles away in the African nation of Ghana. He also very much missed the food.  That was his motivation to improvise.

Unable to find African flavors at the grocery store, or Walmart, Takyi-Micah created his own.  He stirred up a sauce in a friend’s kitchen using his mother’s recipe and began sharing samples around campus, then bottling it for stores.

Today, Takyi-Micah’s tangy “Supreme Sauce” –a marinade made from tomatoes, onions and habanero peppers--is found in about 40 supermarkets, butcher shops and specialty stores across Northeast Ohio. He’s just getting started.

The soft-spoken 27 year old is about to launch a crowdfunding campaign to develop additional African-style food products, for his business, Micah Specialty Foods. His goal, he says confidently, is to dominate the African section of the specialty foods market--once he builds it.

He thinks Cleveland is the ideal place to pursue his dream.

“The spirit of Clevelanders is very similar to Ghanaians. Their attitude is defined by grit and a strong work ethic,” he says.  “Cleveland is a city that hustles.”

It’s remarkable that Takyi-Micah ever became a Clevelander. He had sent his college application to Hampton University in Virginia, via an overnight delivery service that mistakenly delivered it to Hiram College in Geauga County.

Soon after, he said, he got a call from a Hiram admissions counselor impressed with his SAT scores.

“They asked me to apply. I did some research on Hiram, on Ohio, on Cleveland, and I thought there was a lot of opportunity,” he said. Plus, he thought he would have an easier time adjusting to Hiram’s small-town atmosphere.

His instincts were prescient. Takyi-Micah graduated cum laude in 2014 with a degree in business management and a minor in entrepreneurship. He had met his wife, Natasha, and gained early success in an industry notoriously difficult to break into.

An entrepreneurial upbringing likely helped. Dad is a lawyer in the Ghanaian capital of Accra but his parents also run a picture framing shop.

“I was always that kid who saved his pennies to own a business one day,” Takyi-Micah. “It’s how I grew up.”

He also found help in Cleveland's startup community. Through Hiram’s entrepreneurship program, he made friends with people like Ethan Holmes, creator of Holmes Mouthwatering Applesauce, which is also sold in stores throughout the region.

The Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen allowed him to create small batches of his sauce for marketing, then connected him to a manufacturer who now bottles and ships the product.

Takyi-Micah still does much of the selling himself, dropping in on stores with samples and setting up tables at farmers markets. But he thinks it’s time to take the business to the next level. He’s hoping to raise $20,000 though an Indiegogo campaign to expand the selection of Supreme Sauces, from mild to African hot. He also plans to add plantain chips to the menu.

“In Ghana, plantains are what potatoes are to the U.S.” he said. “We want to be more than a sauce company.”

The “we” in the equation is Natasha. She handles the marketing while pursuing her master’s degree in public health. The couple rents its apartment in Shaker Square but America is looking permanent for Takyi-Micah. In August, he obtained his green card, becoming a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States.

If Cleveland becomes a center of African specialty foods, the city might one day be thanking an international student who never forgot the flavors of home.

Our International Newcomer Business series

International Newcomers punch above their weight as entrepreneurs and job creators. They are nearly twice as likely as native-born Americans to launch a business. International Newcomers are also more likely to be awarded a U.S. patent. While we cheer their hustle and success, we also want to learn from it. So we are running a series of stories examining International Newcomer businesses and the founders who launched them.  

by Global Cleveland

Puerto Ricans in Distress Begin to Arrive in Cleveland

Beckoned by family, hurricane victims are looking for jobs and place to live

As Hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico braces for a long and painful recovery, attention is turning toward welcoming and resettling islanders compelled to leave. And not a moment too soon. Community groups are already witnessing a surge of newcomers from the island.

“They’re coming in here every day. We are overwhelmed,” said Romanita Vargas, the executive director of the Spanish American Committee, the oldest social service agency in Cleveland’s Hispanic community.

As of Monday, October 30, her non-profit agency on the near west side had been visited by members of 64 families recently arrived from Puerto Rico, she said. Some were in need of medical attention. Many asked about jobs. Most all were in need of housing.

“No one has a down payment,” she added. “These people have no coats, no furniture, nothing.”

On September 20, Hurricane Maria roared through the U.S. commonwealth, destroying thousands of homes and business and making some communities uninhabitable. Federal help has been slow to arrive and much of Puerto Rico remains without running water or electricity.

Many expected a local impact. Between Cleveland and Lorain, Northeast Ohio is home to one of the largest Puerto Rican communities in the mainland United Sates. Community leaders assumed many Puerto Ricans would come here seeking a respite and maybe to start new lives. But the influx has arrived sooner than expected.

Vargas said Puerto Ricans in Northeast Ohio have been telling family members in distress in Puerto Rico to try and fly out. Once they make it to Cleveland, they are being accommodated by relatives who themselves may have small homes and limited resources.

Vargas said she knows of a family of 10 living in a basement with three dogs.

Many come seeking guidance at the offices of the Spanish American Committee at West 44^th Street and Lorain Avenue, often the first stop for Spanish-speaking residents in crisis.

“We don’t have the resources to deal with this,” Vargas said.

Through a CLE4PR campaign administered by The Cleveland Foundation, area residents, businesses and institutions have contributed about $145,000 to help hurricane victims in Puerto Rico as of October 30. But that money is earmarked for relief efforts on the island, not for helping Puerto Ricans in Cleveland, Vargas noted.

Jose Feliciano, president of the Hispanic Roundtable, the leadership group in the region’s Hispanic community, said Cleveland has an opportunity to add badly needed population while helping fellow Americans in distress.

“There has to be a comprehensive approach,” one that includes the city’s world class hospitals, he said.

Representatives of Cuyahoga Community College and Global Cleveland plan to meet with Vargas and her team to discuss strategies for welcoming Hurricane victims and for steering them toward housing, schools and jobs.

“We know that fellow Americans are hurting and we intend to help them,” said Joe Cimperman, the president of Global Cleveland. “This is what Cleveland does best, we rally to help our brothers and sisters in need.”

by Global Cleveland