Harry Hayman Attends Economy League Immigration Panel: Strategic Economic Leadership in Action
On an evening when most Philadelphia civic conversations stay comfortably within expected boundaries, Harry Hayman found himself part of something fundamentally different at the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia’s immigrant business panel event. The gathering wasn’t about polite platitudes or performative gestures. Instead, it confronted Philadelphia’s economic future with the kind of honest, strategic thinking that separates cities that thrive from those that merely survive.
While national immigration conversations remain trapped in reactive, short-term frameworks, this Economy League convening demonstrated what happens when regional leadership chooses to play chess instead of checkers. For Harry Hayman, whose work with INSOMNIA PRODUCTIONS and the Feed Philly Coalition consistently emphasizes systemic solutions over surface-level interventions, the evening reinforced a crucial principle: ignoring immigration’s economic dimensions isn’t neutrality but a choice with profound downstream consequences.
Research Excellence Meets Real-World Impact
The intellectual foundation of the evening came from Saloni Tandon and Ziqi Zhou, whose research presentation transcended typical policy analysis. Tandon, who directs the Economy League’s Research and Analytics Division, brought her extensive background in inclusive development and data-driven policymaking to bear on one of Philadelphia’s most consequential economic questions. Her previous work spans continents, from co-founding the Gender and Social Inclusion practice at MicroSave Consulting to leading initiatives across India, Kenya, and Indonesia. This global perspective, now focused on Greater Philadelphia’s challenges, adds depth to local economic conversations that often lack international context.
Zhou, the organization’s Research Fellow pursuing her master’s in Social Policy and Data Analytics at the University of Pennsylvania, contributed analytical rigor grounded in finance and business analytics fundamentals. Together, their presentation avoided the trap of presenting immigration as primarily a humanitarian or political issue. Instead, they framed it accurately: as an economic imperative with measurable consequences for tax base sustainability, innovation capacity, and regional competitiveness.
Their research illuminated patterns Philadelphia cannot afford to ignore. Foreign-born residents, while comprising approximately 16% of Philadelphia’s population, have driven roughly a third of the city’s labor force growth since 2010. This demographic punch far exceeds population representation, with immigrants accounting for approximately 20% of Philadelphia’s workforce. More striking: nearly 57% of foreign-born Philadelphia residents fall within prime working age (25 to 54 years), compared to just 40% of native-born residents.
The entrepreneurship data proves particularly compelling. Research from Pew Charitable Trusts reveals that foreign-born Philadelphians account for roughly one-third of all city business owners. Among Brazilian immigrants specifically, nearly 20% either work for themselves or own businesses. This entrepreneurial intensity isn’t accidental but reflects immigrants’ tendency to start businesses at twice their population share, creating jobs rather than merely filling them.
Harry Hayman and Strategic Economic Thinking
For Harry Hayman, whose 2026 commitment to exploring Philadelphia’s cultural landscape through systematic venue documentation and relationship building, the evening represented something essential: civic engagement rooted in evidence rather than ideology. His role as Senior Fellow for the Food Economy and Policy at the Economy League connects directly to immigration’s economic dimensions, particularly within food systems where immigrant labor and entrepreneurship prove foundational.
Hayman’s food security advocacy has consistently emphasized moving beyond charitable models toward systemic infrastructure changes. This philosophical approach aligns perfectly with the evening’s immigration discussion, which refused to treat policy decisions as isolated from their cascading economic effects. When researchers like Tandon and Zhou document how construction employment growth in Philadelphia relied on immigrants for over 75% of new jobs between 2010 and 2022, they’re describing food system infrastructure as much as residential development. When they detail healthcare workforce composition, they’re mapping the support systems that enable older Philadelphians to age in place, maintaining neighborhood stability.
The connection between Harry Hayman’s cultural documentation work and immigration’s economic impact runs deeper than obvious intersections like restaurant entrepreneurship (though that matters significantly). His systematic exploration of Philadelphia venues, from jazz establishments like SOUTH Restaurant & Jazz Club to experimental spaces like Star Bolt in Fishtown, documents an urban cultural ecosystem that immigration sustains and enriches. Many venues thriving in Philadelphia today exist because immigrant entrepreneurs saw opportunity where others saw decline, or because immigrant audiences provided customer bases that made culturally specific programming economically viable.
Executive Director Jeff Hornstein and Honest Conversation
The panel discussion, led by Economy League Executive Director Jeff Hornstein, tackled questions most regional forums avoid. Hornstein, who has helmed the organization since February 2018, brings precisely the background necessary for this conversation. His previous role as Director of Financial and Policy Analysis for the Philadelphia City Controller provided direct exposure to fiscal health challenges facing the city. Under his leadership, the Economy League has emerged as Philadelphia’s most credible voice on inclusive economic development, more than tripling Black participation on its board while building one of the region’s most racially diverse staffs.
What happens when cities restrict talent pipelines while still expecting economic growth? The question isn’t rhetorical but practical, with observable consequences. The Economy League’s own research documents how 2025 federal immigration policy changes created immediate labor supply shocks. With visa restrictions tightening and work permits harder to obtain, new immigrant entrepreneurship slowed measurably. In neighborhoods where immigrants comprise nearly 20% of the workforce and contribute approximately 23% of local business income and tax revenue, the effects cascaded quickly. Restaurants reported staff shortages, contractors faced project delays, and healthcare facilities struggled to maintain service levels.
Which sectors feel these restrictions first, and worst? The data provides clear answers. Construction faces immediate pressure, with small contractors unable to find workers at wages their bid structures assumed. Healthcare, particularly home care serving Pennsylvania’s aging population, sees parallel challenges as immigrant workers who form the majority of this workforce withdraw. Food service experiences similar patterns, from high-end restaurants to corner stores, as both workers and customers alter behavior in response to enforcement climate shifts.
What does it actually cost a city to pretend these dynamics aren’t happening? Philadelphia offers a real-time case study. After nearly six decades of population decline, the city experienced modest growth driven overwhelmingly by foreign-born residents, leading the Brookings Institution to designate Philadelphia a “re-emerging gateway city for immigrants.” This reversal wasn’t accidental but resulted from strategic municipal investments in language access programs, immigrant entrepreneurship support, and workforce development through community organizations. Pretending these contributions don’t exist or can be easily replaced ignores economic fundamentals about labor markets, entrepreneurship rates, and population-driven tax base dynamics.
Beyond Rhetoric to Reality
The conversation’s power came from its refusal to engage in the false binary that dominates national immigration debates. This wasn’t about choosing between border security and open borders, between humanitarian concerns and economic interests, or between immigrant welfare and native-born worker protection. Instead, the panel examined how immigration policy functions as economic policy whether policymakers acknowledge it or not.
National immigration conversations increasingly mirror checkers strategies. Moves happen reactively, focusing on immediate visible effects without considering how opponent pieces (or in this case, economic systems) will respond several turns ahead. A restriction on H-1B visas might seem like worker protection in isolation, but chess-level thinking examines downstream effects. When skilled foreign nationals face $100,000 annual visa fees (up from $215), small businesses get priced out of global talent competition while competitors in Toronto, London, and Berlin welcome those same professionals.
Research presented at the Economy League event demonstrated chess thinking across multiple domains. Labor market analysis revealed that workers with high school diplomas or less saw wage increases approaching 3% due to immigration flows from 2000 to 2022, directly contradicting claims that immigration hurts low-wage workers. Tax contribution data showed undocumented immigrant households alone paid $89.8 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2023, despite limited access to public benefits. Business formation statistics demonstrated that immigrants start businesses at significantly higher rates than population share predicts, with firms founded between 2005 and 2010 showing immigrant founders 35% more likely to obtain patents than native-born founders.
For Philadelphia specifically, the stakes extend beyond economic metrics to existential questions about urban trajectory. Cities competing for talent, investment, and cultural vitality in 2026 and beyond face global competition. When Philadelphia welcomes immigrants strategically, supporting integration through proven programs at organizations like The Welcoming Center, it positions itself within successful urban revitalization models documented in Dayton, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. When it retreats from that welcome, it joins cities whose population decline erodes tax bases, creates infrastructure maintenance crises, and triggers self-reinforcing cycles of disinvestment.
Economic Self-Harm and Competitive Disadvantage
One participant’s observation cut to the core: restricting immigration isn’t just ineffective policy but economic self-harm. Consider Philadelphia’s context within regional competition. The metropolitan area competes with Boston, New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh for employers, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers. Each percentage point of population decline relative to competitors weakens Philadelphia’s position in multiple dimensions simultaneously. Tax base erosion forces difficult choices between service cuts and rate increases. Talent pool contraction makes employer recruitment harder. Consumer spending reduction hits retail and hospitality. Housing demand softening affects property values and construction employment.
Immigration provides the most straightforward path to reverse these patterns. Unlike many economic development strategies requiring years to show results, immigration’s effects manifest quickly. New arrivals need housing immediately, supporting construction and renovation. They require goods and services, sustaining retail and professional services sectors. They seek employment, filling labor shortages while creating new businesses at entrepreneurial rates exceeding native-born populations. Their children enter schools, generating per-pupil funding. Their presence stabilizes neighborhoods that might otherwise see accelerating vacancy and disinvestment.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that immigration between 2024 and 2034 will generate nearly $9 trillion in additional economic output nationally. Philadelphia’s share of those gains depends entirely on whether regional policy encourages or discourages immigrant settlement. Recent federal policy shifts have already created measurable effects. By June 2025, the immigrant workforce shrank by over 1 million workers nationally, translating into tighter labor markets, higher prices, and slower business formation across metro regions. Philadelphia businesses reported the consequences directly: restaurants paying overtime and raising prices, contractors delaying projects, healthcare facilities closing services.
Leadership Through Evidence
What separated this Economy League gathering from typical civic forums was its commitment to letting evidence drive conclusions rather than forcing data into predetermined narratives. Saloni Tandon and Ziqi Zhou presented research acknowledging complexities. Yes, first-generation immigrants sometimes generate short-term fiscal costs for cities. But second-generation residents become net contributors to the economy substantially, more than offsetting initial investments. Yes, immigrant integration requires resources. But Philadelphia’s investments in language access and entrepreneurship support generate returns through business formation and tax contributions that exceed program costs.
Jeff Hornstein’s facilitation ensured panelists engaged genuinely difficult questions without retreating to talking points. When discussion turned to sector-specific impacts, panelists detailed construction, healthcare, food service, and higher education consequences with specificity rarely heard in public forums. When conversation addressed political dimensions, participants maintained focus on economic realities rather than partisan positioning. The result was exactly what regional leadership should provide: informed, strategic thinking about Philadelphia’s competitive position and growth trajectory.
For Harry Hayman, whose work consistently bridges cultural documentation, food security advocacy, and systemic change thinking, the evening exemplified leadership that matches the complexity of challenges Philadelphia faces. His commitment to exploring 52 new Philadelphia spaces in 2026 as part of celebrating the city’s 250th anniversary connects to immigration’s role in urban vitality. Many venues on his exploration list exist because immigrant entrepreneurs saw potential in overlooked neighborhoods. Many cultural traditions he documents survive because immigrant communities maintain and evolve them. Many food security innovations he champions come from immigrant knowledge about cuisine, nutrition, and community feeding practices.
Philadelphia’s Competitive Future
As Philadelphia approaches 2026 and America’s 250th anniversary, along with hosting FIFA World Cup matches, the city faces a choice point. Will regional leadership embrace the evidence about immigration’s economic role, positioning Philadelphia to compete effectively for talent, investment, and growth? Or will it retreat into comfortable narratives that ignore demographic and economic realities?
The Economy League panel suggested Philadelphia possesses the intellectual infrastructure and leadership capacity to choose the strategic path. Organizations like the Economy League, under Hornstein’s direction, provide data and analysis that elected officials and civic leaders can use to make informed decisions. Researchers like Tandon and Zhou generate actionable insights rather than academic abstractions. Community members like Harry Hayman connect policy questions to on-the-ground realities in neighborhoods, cultural institutions, and food systems.
But infrastructure and capacity mean nothing without political will to act on evidence. That requires elected officials brave enough to explain to constituents why welcoming immigrants serves everyone’s economic interests. It requires business leaders willing to speak publicly about workforce needs rather than only lobbying privately. It requires media outlets committed to covering immigration as an economic story rather than only a political or cultural one. Most fundamentally, it requires citizens willing to support leaders who choose long-term regional prosperity over short-term political convenience.
Chess Over Checkers
The metaphor Harry Hayman used in reflecting on the evening captures its essence perfectly. Chess players think multiple moves ahead, considering how each decision creates or forecloses future options. They recognize that controlling center board position matters more than capturing individual pieces. They understand that apparent sacrifices can create strategic advantages several turns later.
Philadelphia’s immigration policy decisions function identically. Restricting immigration might seem like native worker protection in isolation, but chess-level analysis examines whether domestic workers actually fill vacated positions (evidence suggests they don’t at required wage levels), what happens to businesses unable to find workers (they raise prices, reduce services, or close), and how these cascading effects alter Philadelphia’s competitive position relative to cities making different choices.
Supporting immigrant entrepreneurship through organizations like The Welcoming Center might require upfront public investment, but chess thinking evaluates returns over time. When immigrant entrepreneurs launch businesses at twice the rate of native-born residents, those upfront costs generate tax revenue, employment opportunities, and neighborhood revitalization that compound over decades. When language access programs help immigrant workers access city services efficiently, initial program costs get recouped through improved compliance, reduced emergency service utilization, and faster integration into formal employment.
The Economy League panel demonstrated that Philadelphia has access to chess-level thinking on immigration’s economic dimensions. Whether the city acts on that thinking determines whether Philadelphia wins or loses in 21st-century urban competition.
Looking Forward
Harry Hayman left the Economy League event with reinforced conviction about authentic civic engagement’s value. While performative activism generates social media engagement, it rarely moves systemic needles. Real change requires the kind of patient, evidence-based coalition building that organizations like the Economy League facilitate. It demands willingness to confront uncomfortable truths about demographic trends, fiscal constraints, and competitive dynamics. Most importantly, it necessitates translating data into narratives that help citizens understand why policies that might seem counterintuitive actually serve their interests.
His 2026 commitment to systematic Philadelphia exploration takes on additional meaning in this context. Every neighborhood he documents, every venue he visits, every cultural moment he celebrates exists within economic and demographic systems that immigration shapes profoundly. Recognizing those connections doesn’t diminish cultural appreciation but enriches it, revealing how human creativity and economic necessity intertwine to create vibrant urban spaces.
Philadelphia faces extraordinary opportunities in 2026 and beyond. The 250th anniversary celebrations, World Cup hosting, and ongoing regional development provide platforms to showcase the city’s evolution and assets. But seizing those opportunities requires honest reckoning with demographic and economic fundamentals. Cities grow or decline, prosper or struggle, largely based on whether they attract and retain talent. Immigration represents one of the most powerful tools cities possess for talent attraction, yet only if regional leadership approaches it strategically rather than reactively.
The Economy League’s immigrant business panel, with its combination of rigorous research, honest facilitation, and engaged participants like Harry Hayman, modeled the kind of civic conversation Philadelphia needs more of. Evidence over rhetoric. Strategy over soundbites. Chess over checkers. If Philadelphia can sustain that quality of dialogue and translate it into policy action, the city’s competitive future looks far brighter than current national political discourse might suggest.
For Harry Hayman, the evening confirmed what his work across music production, cultural documentation, and food security advocacy consistently reveals: systemic change requires understanding interconnections that others overlook. Immigration isn’t separate from food systems, cultural vitality, or economic development but fundamental to all three. The question isn’t whether Philadelphia recognizes these connections but whether it acts on them with sufficient speed and scale to maintain competitive positioning in an increasingly dynamic urban landscape.
The Economy League panel proved that Philadelphia possesses the intellectual firepower and leadership capacity to make smart choices. Whether it actually does so determines whether future observers describe 2026 as a turning point toward sustained prosperity or as a missed opportunity when evidence pointed clearly toward successful strategies that political will failed to implement.
A Regional Model
What makes the Economy League’s approach to immigration particularly valuable is its regional rather than purely municipal focus. Greater Philadelphia extends beyond city boundaries to encompass Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, plus counties in New Jersey and Delaware. Immigration patterns and economic impacts vary across this geography, but interconnections matter enormously.
When Chester County’s construction sector faces labor shortages because immigration enforcement intensifies, Philadelphia employers feel effects through delayed projects and increased costs. When Montgomery County’s entrepreneurship ecosystem benefits from immigrant business formation, those firms often maintain Philadelphia connections and contribute to regional economic networks. When Delaware County reaps economic benefits from immigrant labor force participation, as Chair Monica Taylor detailed at recent forums, those gains strengthen the metropolitan area’s overall competitive position.
The Economy League’s ability to convene leadership across this entire region positions it uniquely to facilitate discussions that transcend parochial boundaries. Jeff Hornstein’s background in public sector finance and regional coalition building enables conversations that few other organizations can host. The research capacity that Saloni Tandon and Ziqi Zhou represent provides analytical rigor that partisan think tanks cannot match. The board diversity that Hornstein has cultivated ensures discussions include voices too often excluded from economic policy conversations.
For participants like Harry Hayman, whose work spans Philadelphia neighborhoods and increasingly connects to broader regional patterns, this metropolitan perspective proves essential. Food insecurity doesn’t respect municipal boundaries. Cultural institutions draw audiences regionally. Economic opportunity exists or doesn’t exist based on regional job markets, not only city employment. Immigration’s economic impacts similarly transcend narrow geographic frames, making regional analysis and regional policy coordination crucial.
The Path Forward
If the Economy League’s immigrant business panel accomplished its intended purpose, participants left with clearer understanding of what’s at stake in immigration policy choices, what evidence shows about economic impacts, and what strategic approaches successful cities employ. More importantly, attendees like Harry Hayman serve as multipliers, carrying these insights into other conversations and contexts.
When Harry Hayman documents jazz performances at SOUTH Restaurant & Jazz Club, immigration’s cultural contributions become visible through the musicians on stage and the diverse audiences they attract. When he explores food security solutions with organizations like Sharing Excess and Drexel University’s food science programs, immigrant knowledge about preservation, preparation, and community feeding proves essential to innovation. When he systematically visits Philadelphia venues as part of his 52 Firsts commitment, immigrant entrepreneurship’s role in neighborhood revitalization becomes impossible to ignore.
Philadelphia in 2026 stands at an inflection point. The city can choose to embrace evidence about immigration’s economic contributions, supporting integration and entrepreneurship while reaping competitive advantages. Or it can pretend demographic and economic fundamentals don’t matter, retreating into policies that feel comfortable politically while generating economic self-harm.
The Economy League panel suggested Philadelphia has the intellectual capacity and leadership quality to make the strategic choice. Whether it does so depends on continued conversations that prioritize evidence, sustained advocacy that connects policy to prosperity, and political courage to implement solutions that may require explaining complexity to voters.
Harry Hayman’s presence at that gathering, bringing his unique combination of cultural insight, food systems knowledge, and systemic thinking, exemplifies the kind of civic engagement Philadelphia needs more of. Not performative attendance at events for social media documentation, but genuine participation in difficult conversations about the city’s competitive future. Not ideological positioning that treats every issue as culture war ammunition, but honest grappling with evidence even when it challenges assumptions.
If Philadelphia can sustain the quality of dialogue and analysis that the Economy League’s immigrant business panel exemplified, if it can translate research into policy and strategy into action, the city’s next decade looks remarkably promising. But that outcome isn’t inevitable. It requires continued effort from organizations like the Economy League, ongoing research from scholars like Tandon and Zhou, sustained leadership from directors like Hornstein, and active participation from community members like Harry Hayman who refuse to accept that Philadelphia must choose between economic prosperity and social inclusion when evidence shows they advance together.
The evening’s final observation bears remembering: if you missed this conversation, you missed something important. Philadelphia’s future depends on whether the city’s leadership, citizens, and institutions prove brave enough to confront reality and smart enough to act on it. Chess over checkers. Evidence over rhetoric. Strategy over soundbites. The Economy League panel demonstrated that Philadelphia can choose the winning path. Whether it actually does so writes the next chapter of the city’s economic story.
This event reflects Harry Hayman’s ongoing commitment to substantive civic engagement as Senior Fellow for the Food Economy and Policy at the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, where strategic thinking about regional economic development intersects with his work in music production, cultural documentation, and food security advocacy.