Members for the state’s New American Task Force will convene in Cache County on Tuesday, Jan. 25. That gathering will be held at the Cache County Historic Courthouse at 199 North Main St. in Logan.
CACHE COUNTY – Members of the state’s New Americans Task Force will convene in Logan on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
That meeting is part of a statewide effort to develop a comprehensive strategy to maximize New Americans’ economic opportunities, social integration and civic potential in an effort to build a robust economy and a community of belonging, according to County Executive David Zook, a member of the task force.
That gathering will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Cache County Historic Courthouse.
The New Americans Task Force was organized in May of 2022 as a joint effort of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and its Center for Immigration Assistance; the Economic Development Corporation of Utah and its Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging; the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce; and, World Trade Center in Utah.
Since then, northern Utah entities have joined the task force including Utah State University, Cache County and the city of Logan.
The New Americans Task Force is hosting regional meetings around the state to ensure that its efforts are inclusive of rural communities, according to Dr. Jane Irungu, USU vice presidents for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
The purpose of the meeting here in Cache County, she added, will be to share recent research by the task force highlighting the vital role new Americans (the county’s foreign-born population) play in Utah’s fast growing economy and workforce.
The 2020 Census noted that Utah was the fastest-growing state in the county over the past decade. Utah’s foreign-born population helped to fuel this growth, making contributions as participants in the state’s workforce and as taxpayers, consumers and entrepreneurs.
Utah has experienced rapid growth in its foreign-born population in recent years, attracting 100,700 immigrants to the state from abroad or other U.S. states between 2000 and 2019.
In 2019, more than 250,000 immigrants made 8.4 percent Utah’s population. While that percentage lags behind the national average (14.5 percent), task force members say those demographics are changing rapidly.
New research from the American Immigration Council found that immigrants are both creating jobs as entrepreneurs and are more likely to be of prime working age (25-54) than their U.S.-born neighbors.
This allows them to participate more actively in the labor force and contribute to the economy as taxpayers (to the tune of $572.7 million in state & local taxes in 2019) and as consumers, with $5.4 billion in spending power that can be reinvested in local communities through consumer spending.
Utah’s immigrants and refugees are also helping meet demand in critical and in-demand fields, especially during today’s tight labor market.
While immigrants and refugees make up about 8% of the state’s population, they are 10% of the state’s STEM workers, nearly 13% of physicians, and nearly 19% of manufacturing workers.
The session here in Cache Valley will focus on key findings of the New Americans Task Force including demographics; immigrants participation in Utah’s workforce and key industries; tax contributions and spending power; and the economic impact of immigrants enrolled in Utah’s colleges and universities.
In addition to Zook and Irungu, local invitees include Danny Beus, executive director of the Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection; Natalie El-Deiry, director of Immigration in the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity; Ernesto Lopez, chair of the Logan City Council; Dr. Jess Lucero, head of the Department of Social Work at USU; Trhas Tafere, representing the Bear River Health Department; Randy Williams, of the Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection Board; and Ze Min Xiao, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity & Belonging at the Economic Development Corporation of Utah.
The Cache County Historic Courthouse is located at 199 N. Main Street in downtown Logan.