Strengthen and expand our network. Jumpstart employer coalitions in states where they don’t exist. Provide fledgling chapters with toolkits, templates and other advice. Coordinate the national network and provide strategic direction.

 

Messaging – local and national. Conduct public opinion research, develop messages, provide local chapters with talking points and media training. Maintain a Speakers Bureau to help employers make their views known to the public. Help the coalitions document the economic benefits of immigration.

 

Building a grassroots database. The key to winning is an army of engaged, articulate employers prepared to contact their members of Congress and make the case for immigration reform. These troops must be recruited state by state, business by business, peer-to-peer. The goal: a national database that can produce the faxes and phone calls we’ll need to counter the faxes and phone calls of the restrictionist right.

 

Uniting the business community in Washington. With the downturn dragging on and many Americans questioning the need for foreign labor, IW has helped employers from a range of sectors come together to make the case for reform that meets U.S. demand for legal immigrant workers. From high-tech to agriculture, from small family businesses to brand-name corporations, what employers who hire immigrants have in common is more important than their differences, and in this political climate it’s essential that they stand together.