GlobalPittsburgh to celebrate immigrant entrepreneurs on December 13

The second annual Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration and Award Ceremony will be held at the Rivers Club on December 13, 2017, from 6:00-9:00 PM. Forty-four entrepreneurs and professionals, from every sector of the local economy and every corner of the globe, nominated by community members, will compete for awards in seven categories. The nominees have come to Pittsburgh from 25 different countries.

The awards will be determined by the following distinguished  panel of judges: Max F. Miller, Raise Your Spirits; Kit Needham, Project Olympus, CMU; Angelica Ocampo, World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh; Dorit Brauer, The Brauer Institute of Holistic Medicine; Mila Sanina, PublicSource; Nevena Staresinic, Moderna Relocation; Francois Gau, velocityHUB; Kevin Deacon, eMER LLC; and Viviana Altieri, Istituto Mondo Italiano.

This year’s award categories include Technological Innovation; Startup Business; Arts and Culture; Social Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement; Service Industry; and Immigrant Professional Excellence. A Lifetime Achievement award will be presented as well. A new this year Immigrant Champion category features local U.S. born residents with a significant contribution to the cultural and economic progress of immigrants, a greater public understanding or positive view of immigration.

The evening will begin with a VIP reception from 5:00-6:00 PM presenting Kassia Ensemble with performers originating from Armenia, China, and the USA. Mayor Bill Peduto has been invited to speak at the event.

Tickets are available HERE.

The Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration was launched in 2016 to showcase the talent, tenacity and innovative thinking of the “newest newcomers” who have made Pittsburgh their home and helped to make it a world-class city. Eight foreign-born business owners and professionals received awards in 2016.

Since 1959, GlobalPittsburgh (founded as the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors) has cultivated a local network of resources and created valuable contacts for the region worldwide through its work with federally-funded international professional exchanges. GlobalPittsburgh has a network of over 500 members, volunteers, and citizen diplomats who ensure that visiting leaders’ and students’ feel welcome in the Greater Pittsburgh community. For more information about GlobalPittsburgh programs, please visit www.globalpittsburgh.org, call 412.392.4513, or send an email to info@globalpittsburgh.org.

To learn more about the Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration or to register to attend, please contact Nadya Kessler at nkessler@globalpittsburgh.org or call 412.392.4513.

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GlobalPittsburgh welcoming ten YLAI Professional Fellows to Pittsburgh

GlobalPittsburgh is pleased to announce that it will host participants from the U.S. Department of State’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Professional Fellows Program in October and early November 2017. As part of the Fellowship, ten young business and social entrepreneurs from Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Sint Maarten, and Venezuela will travel to Pittsburgh on October 7 and build lasting partnerships with local entrepreneurial organizations and companies.   

The five-week YLAI Professional Fellows Program will place business and social entrepreneurs in relevant businesses and startups, non-governmental organizations, and similar entities in Pittsburgh.  The participants will arrive in the U.S. on October 3 and will further develop their business or social venture plans by engaging in skills-building workshops.  They will also have the opportunity to learn from U.S. counterparts by participating in day-to-day operations at their U.S. host organizations or collaborating on a joint project.  YLAI Professional Fellows will develop stronger ties with other participants from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as with their U.S. Fellowship Hosts.  They will use the knowledge gained to effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities.  

To complement the U.S.-based program, up to 45 Fellowship Hosts from across the United States will travel to the region in spring 2018 to learn from the Fellows’ businesses, share best practices, and participate in a project benefitting the local community. 

GlobalPittsburgh has placed its YLAI Fellows at the following companies and organizations: Idea Foundry, Inc.; Treasure House Fashions; Shift Collaborative; Pittsburgh Trophy Company; Bike the Burgh Tours; the Andy Warhol Museum; Homewood Children’s Village; Regency Global Transportation Group; and the Better Business Bureau.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State funded this program.  GlobalPittsburgh is proud to work with grantee Meridian International Center, a premier nonprofit, global leadership organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. Meridian is also proud to partner with Atlas Corps and Entrepreneurs’ Organization for this program.  The ylai.state.gov website includes information about the YLAI Professional Fellows Program.

For further information, please contact Gail Shrott, Director, International Leaders Program at GlobalPittsburgh  at gshrott@globalpittsburgh.org/412-392-4513.

About U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA)

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) builds relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries through academic, cultural, sports, and professional exchanges, as well as public -private partnerships and mentoring programs. These exchange programs improve foreign relations and strengthen the national security of the United States, support U.S. international leadership, and provide a broad range of domestic benefits by helping break down barriers that often divide us. Visit https://eca.state.gov  for more information.

For information on the YLAI Professional Fellows Exchange Program, please visit https://ylai.state.gov/

For press inquiries, please contact ECA-Press@state.gov.  

About the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors dba GlobalPittsburgh

Since 1959, GlobalPittsburgh (founded as the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors) has been developing a local network of resources and creating for the region a pool of valuable contacts worldwide through its work with federally-funded international professional exchanges. GlobalPittsburgh has a network of over 500 members, volunteers, and citizen diplomats who ensure that visiting leaders’ and students’ feel welcome in the Greater Pittsburgh community. For more information about GlobalPittsburgh programs, please visit www.globalpittsburgh.org,

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GlobalPittsburgh To Host Second Annual Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration! Now It's Time to Nominate!

We are happy to announce that GlobalPittsburgh's second annual Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration and Award Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, December 13, from 6:00-8:30 p.m. at the Rivers Club in downtown Pittsburgh. Please save the date!   We now invite you to nominate a friend or a colleague who is an immigrant entrepreneur or professional, or a non-immigrant but has made a significant and noteworthy contribution to the cultural and economic progress of immigrants in our region.    The nominations will be accepted from April 3 until July 3, 2017. If you have questions about the nomination process, please do not hesitate to contact me at nkessler@globalpittsburgh.org.    Before you begin filling in the nomination form, please make sure that you have the correct spelling of your nominee's full name, country of origin, email address, company name, and his/her title.   For the second annual Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards, we have chosen to highlight a broader range of contributions made to our community by modifying last year's awards categories to the following:   ARTS AND CULTURE A foreign-born artist, writer, musician or performer, who is currently active in any field of the arts and cultural sector, whether for profit or otherwise, and regardless of institutional affiliation, budget or grant level, staff size, or nature of medium or discipline.   TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION A foreign-born person who  alone, or as part of a joint or collective effort, has invented, patented, marketed, or introduced for commercial purposes,  a new product, process, or device.   STARTUP BUSINESS A foreign-born person who, in 2012 or later, founded or led in an executive capacity a business, limited partnership, or other commercial enterprise which is commercially active at the time of nomination.   SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT A foreign-born person who founded or led in an executive capacity a not-for-profit business, organization, or social enterprise.   IMMIGRANT PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE A foreign-born person who has made a significant and noteworthy contribution through the practice of one or more of the learned professions.   LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT A foreign-born person who has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to altruism, philanthropy, or professional or public excellence with a broad and substantial positive impact on the immigrant and larger community of southwestern Pennsylvania.    IMMIGRANT CHAMPION  A non-immigrant who has made a significant and noteworthy contribution to the cultural and economic progress of immigrants, or to a greater public understanding or positive view of immigration, in southwestern Pennsylvania   Please submit your nomination when you are ready!

NOMINATE

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the nomination process or the upcoming event. As we develop 2017 Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration, the details will be revealed on our website.

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Pittsburgh’s leaders pledge support for newcomers

GlobalPittsburgh Immigrant Entrepreneur 2016 Awardees

 By Monte Bohna, GlobalPittsburgh's Study Pittsburgh Initiative Coordinator

In two forums recently, Mayor Bill Peduto of Pittsburgh has made it clear that the city welcomes newcomers from other countries: “we wanted to let them know the city has their back”. 

At a Feb. 21 gathering at the home of Gisele and John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, Mayor Peduto signed a “shared commitment” which included a pledge to welcome to the region “all nationalities, faiths, and cultures” not only for reasons of morality and justice, but also because “our economy, our institutions, our culture, our vibrancy…are all strengthened when we uphold the rights of all of our neighbors”.  In addition to the two Mayors Fetterman and Peduto, the declaration is signed by The Most Rev. David Zubick, Roman Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh, The Rt. Rev. Dorsey McConnell, Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh, Rabbi Aaron Benjamin Bisno of Rodef Shalom, Imam Abdu’Semih Tádéşe of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, United States Senator Bob Casey, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and others.  

The Braddock meeting was followed on March 10 with a meeting between Mayor Peduto, Pittsburgh police chief Scott Schubert, and other city officials with representatives of local Latino, Muslim, Turkish and Sudanese and refugee organizations.  Mr. Peduto acknowledged the anxiety and “concern coming from the Latino community and the Muslim community”, drawing attention to the efforts of the city’s Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative to create an hospitable environment for newcomers.  

GlobalPittsburgh will hold the Second Annual Immigrant Entrepreneur Celebration in December 2017, building on the success of 2016’s event where, with Mila Sanina of Public Source and Susanne Cook of Cohen & Grigsby presiding, awards were presented in six categories to immigrants who have made a notable contribution to the city’s economic and cultural life: Dorit Brauer, Masa Uzicanin, Edgar Alvarez, Viviana Altieri, Dr. Jacques Chelly, Anne Flynn Schlicht, Luis von Ahn and Mikhail Khalil.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/03/10/Mayor-Bill-Peduto-immigrant-leaders-city-officials-voice-support/stories/201703100089

http://wesa.fm/post/local-leaders-celebrate-economic-impact-pittsburghs-immigrant-community

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScPLWIa2CTl4VBX4ZRREf-Yq1-dbc5ihQaWBUyguSKXdV18Ew/viewform?c=0&w=1 

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