CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County's power elite stood together Tuesday on Public Square to give its blessing to the Global Cleveland Initiative, which will encourage people from all over the world to live and work in the area.
They formally announced the creation of the Cleveland International Welcome Center, scheduled to open in May at the Huntington Bank Building, formerly known as the BP building.
Huntington Bank, the Cleveland Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Forest City Enterprises and others provided a $1 million for the center.
"Global Cleveland will aggressively attract and retain newcomers to the community," saidBioEnterprise President Baiju Shah, chairman of the Global Cleveland Initiative. "There are 20,000 jobs available right now in the Cleveland area. We want to bring in people to fill those jobs and keep them here."
The website ohiomeansjobs.com lists more than 25,000 open jobs within 50 miles of Cleveland.
Shah said the welcome center will provide information for people considering moving to Northeast Ohio by connecting them to their ethnic communities and referring them to services including English classes and business seminars.
It will also recruit the workers local employers are looking for, particularly in the fields of science, medicine, engineering and technology as well as unskilled workers.
"We need to attract newcomers, make the city attractive to creative people," said Ron Richard, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. "We must reach out into the world and make a case for Cleveland."
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said residents should not view immigrants as a threat.
"We know that it is the infusion of new people that will make Cleveland a better place," he said. "Our churches and great buildings were built by former immigrants. We don't know what new businesses the new immigrants will create."
Mitali Shah grew up in India and came to the United States at get her Master's degree in Akron. Shah, who took a job with Forest City, said she fell in love with the region.
"I don't like cities that are too crowded," she said. "Cleveland to me is the perfect city. Public transportation is good and I can run every evening in the Metroparks. Plus, there was an Indian community already here when I arrived in 2004."
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