Tennessee Immigrant and Minority Business Group (www.TIMBG.org)
Invites you to attend its 9th monthly meeting
Tuesday July 22, 2014 - 6:30-8:00 PM
Free admission, food and drinks
RSVP: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.TIMBG.org; www.diverseculturalevents.com; www.globalmusiccity.com
Panel on the Impact of Immigration Policies on
Immigrant Businesses
Moderator: Mr. Gethan Ward, Journalist, The Tennessean
Panelists: Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Rep. Chattanooga
Ms. Brenda Wynn, Davidson County Clerk
Mr. Fabian Bedne, Nashville Metro Councilman
Mr. Glenn Funk, Davidson County District Atty
Ms. Remziya Suleyman, American Center for Outreach
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Venue: Highland Hills Funeral Home
2422 Brick Church Pike, Nashville – off I-24 and West Trinity Lane
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Co-founded in 2013 by Drs. Ming Wang and Galen Hull, TIMBG (www.TIMBG.org) promotes communication and interaction among immigrant and minority business owners through a series of monthly seminars to enable participants to market their series and products as well as to discuss topics of mutual interests. Membership in TIMBG is open to all, regardless of whether they are immigrants or minorities.
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Panel Topic: There is abundant evidence of the positive impact that immigrant businesses are having on the American economy. For example, immigrants started 28% of all new U.S. businesses in 2011, employing one in 10 U.S. workers. They represent 18% of small business owners in the U.S.—exceeding their share of the overall population (13%. They are more likely than those born in the U.S. to start a small business. The Nashville area reflects this trend. A study conducted in 2008 of the 39,000 businesses in the Davidson County tax base estimated that of these some 4500 were likely foreign-born (12% of the total).
This is the good news. But there are unresolved issues that continue to impact the immigrant population.
- Comprehensive immigration reform efforts in the U.S. Congress are moving slowly.
- At the state and local level efforts are being made to bring the immigrant population more into the mainstream of society.
- Recent local elections are bringing into office new public representatives who are beginning to address issues confronting immigrants and immigrant businesses.
- The Tennessee Senate recently voted overwhelmingly to grant in-state tuition rates to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. The bill is now in the House. However, a second more controversial measure aimed at granting in-state tuition to children who are here illegally but have spent at least five years attending Tennessee schools and graduated high school with a B average was shelved.
