WCIA: County recognized for immigrant growth

The University YMCA’s New American Welcome Center is hosting a meeting to talk about immigration impact.

Members are going over results of a report showing the demographic and economic contributions immigrants in Champaign County have made.

The county was recognized as a recipient of the Gateways for Growth Award; given to communities  with growing immigrant populations, to make their community even more immigrant-friendly.

At the meeting, community leaders will be talking about that, plus going over numbers in a recent report.

Here’s a look at the data some of the report found:

• In 2016, there were nearly 24,000 immigrants reported living in Champaign County, making up about 11% of the total population.
• 43.5% of those immigrants were university students.
• Overall, immigrants contributed about $1.4 billion to Champaign County’s GDP.

The next step for community leaders is to find ways to use this data and the grant money from the Gateways for Growth report.

Their hope is the next time a census report comes out with this data, the impact of the work being done now will be clearly shown and Champaign County will be established as an even more welcoming community.

Watch the full report from WCIA: “County recognized for immigrant growth”