Refugee communities pump new energy into post-industrial Utica: If wed had one more steep decline in population, we were liable to lose federal funding, Marino adds. Four-out-of-five longtime Utica residents want to see more refugees settle here, according to a recent Zogby survey of the region. That’s likely because there are visible signs of their positive impact, as Marino is keen to point out. Many refugee families, especially from Bosnia, have begun to re-inhabit once rundown neighborhoods. And new businesses have opened downtown... Since 2004, upstate New York has taken 90 percent of all refugee resettlements in the state. This is the first part of the Innovation Trail reporting series looking at how upstate New Yorks refugee population is influencing the regions economy.... During the mid 1970s in the wake of major changes to the citys industrial base and dwindling employment opportunities, the population fell by nearly half. This city that we have now, said Joe Marino, a city councilor, these new refugees really, really rebuilt the city. Marino is driving through his district to point out how the refugee population has turned whole neighborhoods around. Waves of refugees from Bosnia, Burma, Bhutan and Somalia have arrived over the past few decades and stabilized the population. The 2010 census showed the city saw a bump in population for the first time in decades. Its now at 62,000. Refugees and immigrants make up a quarter of that... Marino stops at a section of public housing where Stepanda Zhushma is tending a community garden, which she takes no time to show off. She points to onions, red beets, garlic orlegi. Zhushma came to the United States on September 23, 1989 from Belarus. The date rolls off her tongue. Good area, she said of living in Utica, I like [the] people, neighbors. innovationtrail.org/post/refugee-communities-pump-new-energy-post-industrial-utica
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 12:01:43 +0000
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