Pittsburgh's new immigrants equal brain gain!

[yortsed snacilbuper]

BlackBerry in hand, Tek Rimal counts the minutes as he rides the bus from his job at BNY Mellon to his Bellevue apartment. Like many young parents, Mr. Rimal and his wife, Chandra, tag-team the care of their son, Anuj, with precision timing. Mr. Rimal rushes home from his day shift so his wife can work a 4-to-midnight stint at Rivers Casino.

Like many Pittsburghers, they rely on family to fill in the occasional gaps. Two of Mr. Rimal's brothers and one of Chandra's live in their building. The extended family shops and socializes together, often taking the bus to a favorite ethnic food store.

After 19 years in a Nepali refugee camp and only one year in the United States, Mr. Rimal, a 33-year-old native of Bhutan, is a check-processing clerk at BNY Mellon. But that's not his only job. He cooks 20 hours a week at a neighborhood Thai restaurant and picks up translation jobs with Catholic Charities. Armed with a Pennsylvania driver's license, he's saving for a family car.

The saga of an immigrant's hopeful journey, hard work and readjustment to a new life in America is a Pittsburgh meme, within memory for many families and echoed by churches and fraternal halls. But in 21st-century Pittsburgh, his story is highly unusual -- especially compared with cities of similar size and demographic makeup.

Census data show the Pittsburgh metro region dead last among 15 peers in foreign-born population. With 73,443 foreign-born citizens, the region has half the international population of Charlotte, N.C., which has 1 million fewer residents. Pittsburgh's foreign-born population is a fifth that of Detroit and 13 percent the international population of Philadelphia, both more populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

But recent Brookings Institution analysis reveals that the region is another kind of outlier:

Though only 3 percent of the region's residents are foreign born, they comprise the most highly skilled immigrant group in the entire country, with a concentration of expertise in science and engineering. Like Mr. Rimal, more than 53 percent (30,542) hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/pittsburghs-new-immigrants-equal-brain-gain-637717/

[JDPriestly]

1. Meanwhile, recent American-born college grads cannot get jobs.

Pay for an education in Nepal's currency and then move to the US and cash in big time.

Pay for an education in US currency, move to Nepal and barely make enough to eat but never, never enough to pay pack your US student loans.

We do not need brains from other countries. We need jobs for the brains we have here.

It's not about race or religion or ethnicity. It's about jobs for American graduates who can't afford to repay their loans in our current economy.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

2. Somalian man evolves from civil war to crafting films!

Civil war broke out in Somalia the year Haji Muya was born. The family quickly fled the country for a refugee camp in Kenya. As Bantus, they were persecuted even before the conflict.

Most of his first 13 years were spent in the camp waiting out the process of being found suitable for asylum. When his family found out they were accepted in the United States, he said, "I had high hopes and crazy thoughts. I thought America was made of glass, that you wouldn't be able to see forests or dirt.

"I got here [to Pittsburgh] June 9, 2004," he said. "The most memorable day ever."

Mr. Muya is now 20, and in almost eight years in Pittsburgh he has gone from being a foreign, forlorn youngster to a self-assured, budding filmmaker ready to graduate from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

He is one of 10 filmmakers representing the Game Changers Project, a national media fellowship program whose mission is to change the public perception of black men and youth. Four fellows are in Pittsburgh, including Chris Ivey, James Robertson and Jasiri X, with one each from Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, Oakland and Los Angeles.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/somaliam-man-evolves-from-civil-war-to-crafting-films-637882/