We had a riveting presentation at the April AHEAD meeting by Rosie and Lynda of ONU. They spoke about the economic impact of international students on Hardin County, Ohio, and the US. They also spoke about the ways that Trump administration policies hostile to international visitors and residents are affecting students and the university. Some insights:

International students have a positive economic impact. Ohio ranks in #8 among states in receiving international students. For 2015-2016, international students had these impacts locally:

• for Congressional District 5: $60 million, 568 jobs supported
• for ONU: $7.6 million, 50 jobs supported
• NAFSA International Student Economic Value Tool
• NAFSA: how Ohio benefits from international students (2015 data)
• NAFSA: how Ohio District 5 benefits from international students (2015 data)

As a result of the President Trump’s travel ban and related policies, ONU and other Ohio universities are seeing these challenges:

• international applications falling
• current students anxious and disengaged
• challenges with recruiting faculty
• University needing to prepare for visits from ICE, briefing students on their rights.
• for US students traveling abroad, possibility of reciprocal actions by other countries. European Union planning to start requiring visas from US citizens — fewer opportunities for US students abroad.

What can we do? Monitor immigration action happening locally, and when possible, identify opportunities for international students to present to communities.

More than 200 people attended the 2-hour AHEAD-sponsored town hall with Rep. Jim Jordan this past Monday at the Veterans Memorial Civic Center in Lima. Questions for the 4th District’s Congressman covered a range of topics including health care, insurance, immigration, environmental policy, and the opioid crisis, among others.

A huge thanks to the AHEAD members that made this event a reality! Emily and Beth and others in the Political Action Committee for planning the town hall, Lisa for moderating, and Kerry for photographing the event and writing the press release.

Below, please find several news articles covering the event, as well as an archived Facebook Live stream of the town hall.

• Jim Jordan Town Hall Event Stream (Facebook Live)
• Health Care Worries Pull Crowd To Conservative Ohio Rep’s Town Hall (Kaiser Health News)
• Jordan gets award from Chamber, questions from town hall in Lima (Lima News)
• Congressman Jordan speaks to Lima (Hometown Stations Lima)
• Conservative Rep. Jim Jordan gets an earful of health care concerns at tense town hall meeting (Cleveland.com)

We’re in the news! AHEAD was featured at least three times that we know of in local media over the past week. The town hall with Jim Jordan on April 24th (tomorrow!) made it in the Lima News and Bellefontaine Examiner, and AHEAD member Kerry had the opportunity to speak at Lima Mayor David Berger’s press conference on the 19th about the same event. Links to the articles and the YouTube clip of Kerry at the press conference are included below. If you run across additional stories, please forward the links to ahead.oh.web@gmail.com and we’ll make sure they get posted on the website!

Jordan town hall scheduled April 24 in Lima — Lima News

Jordan to Address Action Group — Bellefontaine Examiner

Kerry discussing the Jim Jordan town hall at Lima Mayor David Berger’s media briefing:

We have a poster, so please share it widely! A link to a larger version of the poster is available below.

Additional information about the town hall:

An energetic band of organizers has been working overtime to set up the Jim Jordan Town Hall, Monday, April 24, in Lima (see calendar for details). We’ve been told that this is the only town hall to be held by a Republican representative in Ohio in 2017. A core goal of the town hall is for Jordan’s constituents to get a chance to hear his answers directly. The organizing team is dedicated to creating a respectful, civil dialogue. We encourage everyone to come, even if you are not a Jordan constituent. It should be a great learning opportunity. And, spread the word. Here is the press release and a link to the poster featured on the left. We encourage people to submit questions and personal stories in advance: send to ahead.oh@gmail.com.