March 15, 2022
Dallas, TX
2021
Overall Score
3.17
Policy Score
4.33
Socioeconomic Score
2.00
Dallas earns a score of 3.17. Its strong showing in Government Leadership and Community reflects the city’s proactive work to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all residents. Areas for improvement are the socioeconomic categories of Livability and Civic Participation.
As one of six children in her family in Taipei, Taiwan, Jin-Ya Huang grew up watching her parents struggle to overcome poverty. Her mother scraped together money by cooking and sewing, and her father worked and lived at a distant cement factory, where he was a mechanical engineer. When he lost his job, money became even more scarce.
In 1983, the family’s fortunes changed. Huang’s aunt and uncle needed help running 16 Chinese restaurants they owned in America, and they offered to sponsor the family for visas. It wasn’t easy to leave; two of Huang’s sisters were married and would have to stay behind. “But America represented a better future,” Huang says.
By the early 1990s, Huang’s parents had purchased their own franchise in Dallas. Huang, who had worked alongside her parents, used her earnings from the new restaurant to fund her tuition at the University of Texas at Dallas. She also took up photography and was such a natural that she secured a coveted internship at Neiman Marcus’s corporate headquarters, in downtown Dallas. Within a few years, she was promoted to art director and worked on the brand catalogue, “The Book,” a coveted position.
Huang went on to work at J.C. Penny. In 2012, she became the Packaging Manager at Fossil and, because of her Mandarin fluency, now serves as a liaison to the brand’s Hong Kong vendors in addition to the company’s other global partners in Europe and North America.
Huang is also deeply engaged in the Dallas community. As an interdisciplinary artist, her work has been exhibited in her adopted hometown, as well as galleries in New York City and Miami. And in 2016, she launched Break Bread, Break Borders, a community-based catering business that creates financial and social opportunities for local refugees. The initiative was Huang’s way to honor her mother, who died of cancer in 2015 and was the chef at their family restaurant. “This is a way for immigrant and refugee women to educate people about their culture,” says Huang. “And to empower them to have their own businesses and be able to work and be a breadwinner.”
“I’ve been on the receiving end of so much grace and generosity throughout my life,” says Huang, who became a citizen in 1997 and has a 10-year-old son. “I’ve signed up for a lifetime of service to my community. That’s where I feel like my superpowers are and where I belong.”
When Mathew Ittoop left his native India on New Year’s Eve in 1990, he couldn’t wait to start his new life in the United States. He stepped off the plane and thought, “This is a great country that leads the rest of the world.”
Ittoop and his wife landed in New York City, where Itoop went on to earn a master’s degree in electrical engineering at the Polytechnic University, now affiliated with NYU and work for the City Transit Authority as a maintenance supervisor. In 2004, Itoop moved to Dallas, where his wife took a job, and opened a printing business. Although he became a successful entrepreneur, he longed to put his technical training to use. “I was never satisfied with just doing business deals,” he says.
In 2007, Ittoop joined the Dallas sanitation department, and moved to the public works department in 2010. Now a licensed professional engineer, he supervises the Internal Inspections Group and oversees contractor invoices for construction and material testing for the state. He also leads special projects. “Dallas is very welcoming to immigrants,” Ittoop says. “There are six program managers at public works engineering and construction, and four are immigrants. So we need immigrants and their capabilities here.”
As an immigrant, Ittoop also plays an active role in the city’s civic and cultural life. He is the vice president of the Association of Asian American City Employees, which organizes cultural events, hosts personal development seminars, and facilitates community outreach. For example, after recent hurricanes ravaged parts of the state, the group collected donations and supplies for victims.
When I came here, I never thought I could reach this height. But this country gave me that opportunity. I am more than happy to serve this country in any way that I can. Every single immigrant who came here will say the same.”
“It’s a blessing for me that I could come here and live in this country,” says Ittoop, who is now a U.S. citizen and the father of three children. “When I came here, I never thought I could reach this height. But this country gave me that opportunity. I am more than happy to serve this country in any way that I can. Every single immigrant who came here will say the same.”
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