With leaders like Alba, the city is definitely going to be ready. They bring a level of awareness and depth that Philadelphia needs. Still, because Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods, local government shouldn't come in to immigrant communities with a cookie-cutter approach, Rodriguez says. Government has to partner with community agencies, which are already addressing many of the issues. Increasingly, the Philadelphia School District does much more than teach reading, writing and arithmetic.
Public schools serve students breakfast and lunch.
Provide after-school enrichment programs. Hire psychologists to help with depression and anxiety. About 10 percent of the district's population has been identified as students whose first language is not English. That's 21,000 students speaking Spanish, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, Malayalam, Albanian, Arabic and Creole. Every time a fresh wave of immigrants moves into the city, it puts a new set of demands on the schools, says Mary Ramirez, director of the school district's Office of Language Equity Issues.