ST. LOUIS — Area nonprofit and labor leaders on Tuesday announced a new program to draw Latino immigrants to the region with resources including job training and placement with construction, manufacturing and hospitality trade unions.
The program, a partnership between the nonprofit International Institute of St. Louis, Jerry Schlichter, an attorney and founder of the nonprofit Arch Grants, and the Missouri AFL-CIO coalition of labor unions, aims to make St. Louis a destination for Latino immigrants arriving to other cities in the U.S.
The effort is modeled after a similar initiative led by Schlichter and regional development group Greater St. Louis Inc that settled more than 1,200 Afghan refugees here since 2021. That effort included housing and entrepreneurship grants, and it established a local Afghan-directed newspaper, cultural center and chamber of commerce.
People are also reading…
Both programs hope to replicate the long-term success of Bosnian resettlement here in the 1990s, which brought scores of war refugees here and eventually attracted Bosnians in other U.S. cities, giving St. Louis the largest Bosnian population outside of Europe and helping to combat population decline and stagnation.
“This is an opportunity for us as a community to bring people already in the country to St. Louis to grow our population, strengthen our economy and build a more diverse and vibrant region,†Schlichter said Tuesday. “It’s not only to say that we welcome people in St. Louis, but that we’re stepping up our support to help people build their lives here.â€
The program includes funding for outreach in other U.S. cities, three months of free housing and six months of free phone and internet services, English language classes, job training and job placement with AFL-CIO affiliated unions, and assistance from immigration lawyers for applications for work authorization in the U.S. Schlichter declined to specify how much in donations the new Latino program has received but said it was “substantial.â€
Karlos Ramirez, former CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis and former Midwest BankCentre Vice-President of Latino outreach, will serve as the program’s director and conduct outreach to Latino immigrants in other cities across the U.S.
The program seeks to capitalize on new federal rules allowing temporary visas for up to 30,000 people from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua each month if they meet qualifications including having family members already here who can sponsor them, said Arrey Obenson, President and CEO of the International Institute of St. Louis.
“We’re offering them an opportunity here in St. Louis to be trained and placed in a job with union paying wages,†Obenson said. “They may not have that opportunity in another city.â€