MacKinac Island—Two southeast Michigan media organizations
announced the launch of a new partnership that spotlights the contributions of
the region’s ethnic, minority and immigrant entrepreneurs.

Participating representatives (from left) Osama Siblani of The Arab American News, Elias Gutierrez of the Latino Press, New Michigan Media Founder Hayg Oshagan, The Jewish News Publisher Arthur Horwitz and Michigan Korean Weekly Publisher Tack-Yong Kim pose in front of WXYZ-7’s TV station in Southfield in this file photo. Michigan Chronicle Senior Editor Bankole Thompson, another participant, is not pictured.

New Michigan Media and Issue Media Group have collaborated
to form the Ethnic and Minority Media Partnership. The partnership was
announced June 2 at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference.

Issue Media Group’s website, www.semichiganstartup.com now
features stories from New Michigan Media’s five largest ethnic publications —
The Arab American News, The Jewish News, The Michigan Korean Weekly, The Latino
Press and The Michigan Chronicle.

Participating ethnic media will develop, write, and publish
stories about Southeast Michigan entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial successes
from their own ethnic communities.

New Michigan Media’s network includes more than 100 ethnic
and minority media outlets in Michigan, which represent hundreds of thousands
of minority readers, viewers and listeners in the Michigan media market. Issue
Media Group publishes online magazines devoted to documenting the
transformation of cities and economies in 19 regions across the U.S. and
Canada.

“This partnership is a unique opportunity to showcase
the entrepreneurial vitality in the Hispanic and all other ethnic and minority
communities in the region. We all play an important role in the revitalization
of Detroit, and by collaborating through New Michigan Media and with the New
Economy Initiative, we hope to achieve an even greater positive impact on the
future of southeast Michigan,” Latino Press Publisher Elias Gutierrez
said.

In addition to the website, the partnership will form
relationships with mainstream media as well as international publications to
expand the news to different audiences. The overall goal is to educate and
encourage ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurs to start and grow their own
businesses in the region.

 “New
Michigan Media is committed to building bridges among successful ethnic,
minority and immigrant communities with the intention of creating new
opportunities and greater visibility,” said New Michigan Media Founder
Hayg Oshagan. “Our collaborative efforts with Issue Media Group – a media
organization dedicated to covering emerging companies and the new economy –
will enable us to grow awareness of ethnic, minority and immigrant
entrepreneurial successes in the region and begin to change the narrative about
southeast Michigan on the local, national and international level.”

Bankole Thompson, senior editor of the Michigan Chronicle,
said he applauded the work of Wayne State Professor Hayg Oshagan for
conceptualizing New Michigan Media.

The partnership draws attention to the impact ethnic,
minority and immigrant communities have on the economy. Over one decade
immigrant- founded ventures created 450,000 jobs and represented a market
capitalization of roughly $500 billion. Southeast Michigan’s immigrant
entrepreneurs were six times as likely to start a high-tech firm from
1995-2005, placing the state third compared to all 50 states, and are nearly
four times as likely to file an international patent. Michigan ranks eighth out
of all 50 states in filing these types of patents. Immigrants are more than
three times as likely to start a new business.

“It’s a unique and first of its kind project that
illuminates successful stories of immigrants and shows how they enrich our
state and country with their contributions to business, culture and the
greatness of America,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American
News.

The partnership is being funded by the New Economy
Initiative (NEI) for Southeast Michigan. NEI is an innovative philanthropic
effort to accelerate the transition of metro Detroit to an innovation-based
economy that expands opportunity for all. Ten national, regional and local
foundations have committed $100 million to the eight-year initiative.

Detroit’s immigrant community is the third most productive
in the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan areas.  “Southeast Michigan’s ethnic, minority and foreign-born
entrepreneurs are key to the region’s long term revitalization and future
economic growth, and ignite the overall entrepreneurial spirit of the
region,” said New Economy Initiative Executive Director David Egner.
“The Ethnic and Minority Media Partnership is the ideal platform to
showcase southeast Michigan’s ethnic, immigrant and minority communities as
catalysts for economic renewal and growth. They are creators of new
technologies and products which are sold around the world, and can serve as
champions to encourage other ethnic groups and immigrants to plant their
entrepreneurial seeds and grow their fresh ideas in a region with a strong
business development support system and access to resources.”