Please join us for a very special evening event for a panel discussion immigration. We are honored to be joined by Victoria Francis (American Immigration Council), Tony Anderson (Chief Workforce Development Officer from City of Denver), and Alexandre Padilla (Chair and professor of the Department of Economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver).

Victoria Francis will present a new data tool called Map the Impact that provides national, state, and local data on the demographic and economic contribution of immigrants. Map the Impact even includes data from the Colorado Refugee Services Program, and is an important resource for economists and policymakers alike.

For our panel discussion, Francis will be joined by Tony Anderson and Alexandre Padilla to discuss legislative policies and bills that have been passed in Colorado in the last several years, Denver initiatives to help immigrants get driver’s licenses and find work, and recent research.

Schedule:
5:30 - 6pm - Networking
6:00 - 6:05pm - Announcements and intro
6:05 - 6:30pm - Victoria Francis (American Immigration Council) presents Map the Impact
6:30-7:15 - Panel discussion on immigration
7:15-8pm - Networking

Victoria Francis is the Deputy Director of State and Local Initiatives at the American Immigration Council. In her role, she supports the Council’s state and local-level policy and advocacy efforts, business community engagement, and coalition-building with public, private, and civic partners. Victoria has worked on state-level initiatives, including in-state tuition for refugees and Special Immigrant Visa recipients, codifying state participation in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, creating an Office of New Americans, and occupational licensing and workforce access for internationally trained healthcare professionals.

Tony Anderson, Chief Workforce Development Officer from the Denver Economic Development and Opportunity Office (DEDO), supported WorkReady Denver, a pilot program to help newcomers to Denver find legal work in industries experiencing significant labor shortages. Anderson also supported a proposed bill to make it possible for new immigrants to Colorado to apply for a driver’s license without a waiting period (SB24-182).

Alexandre Padilla is Chair and professor of the Department of Economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver, and author of a large body of research on the relationship between immigration and institutions. This includes research on whether immigrating from a country with less economic freedom negatively impacts destination states, and whether emigrating from a country can similarly lead to the deterioration of institutions from an origin state. Dr. Padilla is also Director of the Exploring Economic Freedom Project at Metropolitan State University of Denver. See more here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=JMCIi2YAAAAJ