Census data convincingly show that cities with large numbers of immigrants are growing and cities with fewer immigrants are shrinking.

Immigrants in New York, Chicago, Houston and Boston have streamed into blighted areas, created new cultural currents and flooded neighborhoods with life. And The Sun's article "Immigrants seen as key to city's growth" (Nov. 10) addresses an important issue -- why hasn't Baltimore tapped this inner-city lifeline?

As a graduate student at the University of Baltimore, I researched immigrant revitalization in urban areas for my thesis earlier this year. And I learned that cities with successful immigrant revitalization efforts create strong partnerships between city officials, nonprofit groups that support immigrants and refugees, and businesses and foundations.

In New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas, for instance, public-private partnerships have helped immigrants and refugees settle in neighborhoods, find jobs and plug in to city life.

Special mayoral offices in Houston handle immigrant and refugee affairs, and officials operate with the notion that the easier the transition for new immigrants into American society, the better-off their city will be.

Boston's Office of New Bostonians oversees partnerships with resettlement organizations and other agencies and is credited with bringing to the city a wave of new Americans.

And, as the recent Abell Foundation study illustrates, these immigrants and refugees are reversing population decline, revitalizing neighborhoods and rebuilding cities.

Baltimore has a strong history of immigration. But our city must make new efforts to attract new Americans to build neighborhoods, fill important gaps in the workforce, get involved in communities and restart city growth.

Kristen Campbell

Baltimore

In the Greater Baltimore area, the Ethiopian community is alive and thriving and 3,000 strong.

We own grocery stores, restaurants, health clinics, parking lots and taxis -- to name just a few of our enterprises.

Ethiopians are widely credited with moving into poor neighborhoods in Washington and transforming them into prime properties -- Adams Morgan and the U Street communities are examples.

And in Baltimore, the Ethiopian community is trying to strengthen our presence and our permanency. We have purchased a church in Woodlawn and opened a community center that will provide a variety of services for the Ethiopian immigrant community.

My husband and I moved to Baltimore to open a restaurant. Soon after we moved here, we were able to attract my brothers to move to Maryland from New York. But our efforts to get them to settle in Baltimore failed because there are few opportunities and networks for software engineers and international financial services in this area.

My brothers were also very concerned about crime and our poor school system. So they chose to settle in Montgomery County instead.

So what can we do in Baltimore to attract immigrants?

Increase high-tech businesses and international financial services, increase performing arts events from different cultures, organize an annual international festival and organize a meeting of immigrants to discuss plans to increase immigrant population while reducing crime and improving the school system.

Rebkha Atnafou

Baltimore

The writer is a member of Baltimore's Ethiopian-American community.