Chicago, Aug 18 : Ami Gandhi, an Indian American
public policy expert, has been named to a committee formed by Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make President Barack Obama's home town the "most
immigrant friendly city in the world".
The Office of New
Americans (ONA) Advisory Committee has been asked to generate
recommendations, develop strategies, and present an overall vision to
promote the city's economic vitality and ensure global competitiveness
for doing so.
Since 2011, Gandhi has served as executive director
of South Asian American Policy & Research Institute that was
established in 2001 to improve the lives of South Asian Americans in the
Chicago area by using research to formulate equitable and socially
responsible public policy.
Gandhi works with a broad spectrum of
organizations across Chicago. Besides ONA and the advisory board of
Common Cause Illinois, she is a volunteer attorney for Coordinated
Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services, which runs a legal aid
hotline for low income residents of Cook County.
Announcing the
formation of the committee, Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff,
praised the president's executive order to give qualified undocumented
young people a break from deportation and a two-year work permit as long
as they came to America with their parents when they were children.
"I
applaud President Obama for making strides that will not only help the
City of Chicago grow, but will give families and students across the
country a better chance of achieving the American Dream," he said.
The
ONA Advisory Committee is formed by 50 individuals who represent
Chicago's business, academia, civic, philanthropic, and community
leaders. Divided into eight subgroups, it will identify immigrant
challenges, strategies and potential solutions.
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