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Building A Nation of Neighbors How-To Videos

August 24th, 2011

Building a Nation of Neighbors equips individuals and organizations with story-based tools to better understand and use the Welcoming model. The module, which was developed by Active Voice in association with BeCause Foundation, was adapted from the documentary Welcome to Shelbyville, produced and directed by Kim A. Snyder.

This model for community building was designed by WelcomingTennessee (a program of TIRRC) and is being replicated nationwide by Welcoming America, with generous support from Unbound Philanthropy.

Order a DVD and user’s guide: To order your own copy, please complete this form.

Download a User’s Guide: click here for a printable user’s guide that will help you use the video modules most effectively.

Share your thoughts: Win points and prizes for viewing the segments and sharing your thoughts on Friends of Welcoming (look for Shelbyville Multimedia actions).

WATCH THE VIDEOS

Chapter 1, How Welcoming Works (4 min) - An introduction to the Welcoming model and how it relates to the community of Shelbyville.
Chapter 2, Local Leaders: The Foundation of Welcoming Work (2 min) - An overview of how the Welcoming model approaches local leadership development.
Chapter 3, Starting the Welcoming Conversation (4 min) – Context on Welcoming America’s work bringing immigrants and long-time residents into direct, facilitated contact.
Chapter 4, Welcoming Messages: Changing the Perception of Immigrants (5 min) - Background on the Welcoming approach of reversing negative images of immigrants by using strategic communications.
Chapter 5, From Neighbors to Friends: Overcoming Common Misunderstandings (5 min) - An overview of how to bring together community members to address misunderstandings and stereotypes.

More
More Details: “Building a Nation of Neighbors”:
As the Welcoming model continues to garner successes around the country, many are clamoring for tools to make their schools, local institutions, churches, communities and states more welcoming. “Building a Nation of Neighbors” is a short DVD that hones in on select scenes from Welcome to Shelbyville that exemplifies the Welcoming America model, while providing additional context on how it can work for a range of communities and audiences. From a seasoned “welcoming ambassador” to a concerned resident who wants to get the conversation started at her church, this module provides tips and guidance on how to build more welcoming communities.
“Building a Nation of Neighbors” is part of Shelbyville Multimedia, a project of Active Voice – in association with BeCause Foundation – designed to promote community building and harmony between native-born Americans, immigrants and refugees nationwide. It was developed in partnership with Welcoming America, with generous support from Unbound Philanthropy.
For more Shelbyville Multimedia resources, including webisodes and modules, visit www.shelbyvillemultimedia.org
About “Welcome to Shelbyville”
Change has come to rural Tennessee. Set against the backdrop of a shaky economy, Welcome to Shelbyville takes an intimate look at a southern town as its residents – whites and African Americans, Latinos and Somalis – grapple with their beliefs, their histories and their evolving ways of life. Welcome to Shelbyville is directed and produced by Kim A. Snyder and executive produced by BeCause Foundation, in association with Active Voice. Visit www.welcometoshelbyvillefilm.com
Watch the entire module below :

Categories: Announcements

Coming Soon: Friends of Welcoming!

May 5th, 2011

We are excited to announce that Friends of Welcoming will launch on June 15!  Register today at www.friendsofwelcoming.org! Friends of Welcoming is Welcoming America’s new online platform that allows individuals, teams, and organizations to earn points for engaging in welcoming activities.  Some examples of the many available activities include: interviewing an immigrant about his or her story, writing a welcoming Letter to the Editor, or hosting larger community events designed to bring people together across race, language, and culture.

You may use your points to earn fun prizes (books, dvds, t-shirts, jump drives, and more!) , and even the opportunity to win cash to start a Welcoming initiative or donate to charity! You will also be able to connect with like-minded people across the nation who want to make their communities more welcoming.  Friends of Welcoming can help you make a difference in your community in a fun and interactive way.  Look out for an announcement soon that Friends of Welcoming has launched!

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Categories: Announcements

The movement grows: check out Shelbyville Multimedia, stay tuned for Friends of Welcoming!

March 17th, 2011

Our important partner Active Voice recently launched a new character-driven website, www.ShelbyvilleMultimedia.org, that does an amazing job of transporting the viewer into the world of Welcome to Shelbyville. As you may know by now, Welcome to Shelbyville features the efforts of Welcoming Tennessee (a project of TIRRC), the model for all subsequent Welcoming America initiatives, as its local partners in Shelbyville, TN struggle to build a welcoming community. This documentary will be airing nationally on PBS via Independent Lens on May 24 at 10:00pm, so save the date! We strongly encourage you to explore Shelbyville Multimedia, and to participate in the opportunities for action it provides (see below for more details). Welcoming Tennessee and Welcoming America are featured in several parts of the Shelbyville Multimedia site, and our soon-to-be-launched web portal “Friends of Welcoming” – launching in May – is also featured.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories: Announcements, Uncategorized

“Welcome to Shelbyville” and Welcoming America

February 28th, 2011

We have received many inquiries from individuals and organizations trying to better understand Welcoming America’s connection to the “Welcome to Shelbyville” documentary which aired on PBS nationally on May 24, 2011. Did you know this documentary was viewed by an estimated 1.3 million Americans on May 24th?

The documentary features the efforts of Welcoming Tennessee (a project of TIRRC), the model for all subsequent Welcoming America campaigns, as its local partners in Shelbyville, TN struggle to build a welcoming community. Set against the backdrop of a shaky economy, Welcome to Shelbyville takes an intimate look at a southern town as its residents – whites and African-Americans, Latinos and Somalis – grapple with their beliefs, their histories and their evolving ways of life. Welcome to Shelbyville is directed and produced by Kim A. Snyder and executive produced by BeCause Foundation in association with Active Voice. Welcoming America is working to replicate initiatives such as the one in Shelbyville across the United States.

If you are interested in hosting a screening of Welcome to Shelbyville, and learn more about how to engage with the film, please go to the exciting “Shelbyville Multimedia” website created by Active Voice. To Purchase a Copy of the Film click here to go to the order page on the Because Foundation website. You can also purchase it on itunes.

Also, check out two more related tools:

1.) Friends of Welcoming: an interactive web portal – designed by Welcoming America – for individuals and groups who are interested in taking their interest in welcoming newcomers to the next level.
2.) The Building a Nation of Neighbors Module: This free video module, available online, or on DVD, equips individuals and organizations with story-based tools to better understand and use the Welcoming model that is featured in Welcome to Shelbyville.

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Categories: Announcements

Watch this video. Welcoming America is transforming communities.

December 22nd, 2010

Please watch our latest Welcoming America video-short by clicking on the image above. It’s quick, and it’s worth watching!

As this exciting video demonstrates, Welcoming America’s affiliates across the country are positively transforming communities that have experienced rapid immigration growth. Cities and towns that were once overcome by the fear of change are becoming Welcoming to immigrants and refugees. 2010 was our most successful year – by far! With your support Welcoming America can have a much bigger impact in 2011. Just click here to donate.

With your help we can deepen our work where we are, and significantly expand the number of states where we operate. In the process, we can truly transform this country.

The need for our work has never been greater. Sadly, the climate for immigrants is getting much worse in the U.S., and it looks like the situation will deteriorate further in 2011. It doesn’t have to be this way! Please help our country live up to its promise by sharing this video with your friends, and by donating to Welcoming America before the end of 2010. Donations go directly to the work of our affiliates. Simply click here to donate.

Categories: Announcements

Nationwide Welcome to Shelbyville Screenings a Huge Success!

November 18th, 2010

Marquee outside of Welcoming affiliate Nebraska is Home's screening in Lincoln, NE

During the last two weeks of October,Welcoming America’s affiliates – along with their partners – screened the documentary Welcome to Shelbyville in more than a dozen communities. Over 1,200 people saw the film and were inspired by the story.

For a full list of the events that took place, go to the calendar page and for more media coverage, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Over and over again across the country, attendees of the Welcome to Shelbyville events stated that “This film could be about our town,” or a town just a few miles away. Participants next asked “How can I get involved?, What can I do?” Screenings were hosted at universities, museums, book stores and theatres, just to name a few.

Some highlights from the events themselves:

  • After the screening in Shelbyville, former city manager Ed Craig said: “I thought it was very good…I think they’re going to see a caring community dealing with issues that are common throughout the country.”
  • In the town of Carey — near Raleigh, NC — a standing room only crowd of 275 filled the theatre to watch the film and attend Uniting NC’s launch event. Some were even turned away. At this spectacular launch, people of all religions, nationalities and races sat shoulder to shoulder and were eager to talk about how they could overcome misconceptions and build a more united community. (A blog post about the event can be found here.)
  • At one screening, a city council member who had introduced and was the lead force in passing an Arizona-style ordinance stated after seeing the film that it made him aware that the city ordinance did nothing to solve the city’s immigration issue, it potentially made things worse and he wanted to work to “make things right.”
  • Welcoming Colorado had over 300 people attend four screenings in different parts of the state. Following the October 21st film screening in Grand Junction, Denice Hoffman who works at the Literacy Center of the Mesa County Libraries commented that the film mirrored her life experience “The integration of immigrants in our community is key and it happens with the help of people such as ‘Ms. Luci’ in the film…These folks have helped immigrant students learn how to drive, fill out job applications and how to use the bus system. Building relationships is what this is all about.” (A blog post about the event can be found here.)
  • In Tuscaloosa, Alabama a dinner, screening and discussion was co-organized by Welcoming Alabama and held at the University of Alabama. The audience was deeply engaged in the discussion, during which some students revealed that this event was the first time students had met someone wearing a headscarf. Even a tornado a few hours before the event didn’t keep people away!

The packed room at the screening in Carey, NC

Some highlights from media and blog coverage:

  • From the article “Film Could be Re-named Welcome to Greeley-ville“ published on October 27, 2010 in The Greely Tribune (Greely, CO):
    • “In one of the most eye-opening scenes, a cross-section of ethnicities show up at a Somali woman’s home to share in a Somali meal. Laughter, conversation, dancing — and baby steps of mutual understanding — unfold in the kitchen and living room.  Likewise, the lecture room in Gunter Hall became a de-facto caucus on multiculturalism when the lights came up and the hosts — Realizing Our  Community, a local nonprofit that promotes diversity, and the Denver-based Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning — moderated a discussion about the film and its themes.  An older white man said this about what’s happening in Greeley-ville: ‘I don’t think people are coming here to take over — they’re bringing new energy into the place.’”
  • From the JV Consulting blog in Auora, CO:
    • “On Monday night, in the movie and in the conversation that followed, people were both saying tough things and listening to each other.  I came away feeling inspired and optimistic about the ability of people coming together to break down the barriers that distance us, and thinking that if we could all watch this movie between now and the end of the year, how 2011 might be different.
  • From the article “Documentary Spotlights Middle Tennessee Town” published November 20 on the WSMV-NBC website in Nashville, TN: 
    • “Many people who watched the film said they walked away with a greater understanding of the Somali culture. That seems to be the purpose of the film: to educate and eventually create community not just in Shelbyville, but in similar communities across Middle Tennessee and even across America.”
  • From John Colson, Aspen Times Weekly in Aspen, CO:
    • “Even among an audience predisposed toward cross-cultural thinking, much more went unsaid than was said, both because of time constraints and a persistent feeling of uncertainty, doubt and anxiety that stands like a wall between the cultures.The people in that room, however, gave it their best shot and, I like to think, came away with a better understanding of the work to be done, and the difficulty of that work.”
  • From the group discussion in St. Louis, moderated by KETC Channel 9 Executive Producer Jim Kirchher:
    • “I was very impressed by the balance in the film.  By the fact that they very very pointedly brought out the real difficulties people have and yet the whole upbeat tone of the film… instead of crying in your beer what to do about things.”
  • What follows are a few samples of the coverage from the media the screenings received:

Coming up next will be 90 community screenings of Welcome to Shelbyville in April and May of 2011 through ITVS and the national debut of the film on PBS in May! To get involved in Welcoming America, go to the Get Involved section of our website, or contact Ellen Gallagher at ellen@welcominagmerica.org. To host a screening of the film in 2011, contact Active Voice or visit this form.

Welcome to Shelbyville is directed and produced by Kim Snyder and executive produced by BeCause Foundation in association with Active Voice.

Congratulations to our affiliates on their great events!

Categories: Announcements

Welcoming America Screenings of Welcome to Shelbyville- Locations and Times Announced

October 15th, 2010

Press Contact: David Lubell, Welcoming America

404-592-5621, david@welcomingamerica.org

 

 

 

Groups across the U.S. Demonstrate a Way Forward on Immigration through Film

WHAT: National launch of the film Welcome to Shelbyville¸ with 13 screenings across the country over 12 days coordinated byWelcoming America**   At a time when the public discussion about immigration is becoming increasingly polarized, Welcome to Shelbyville highlights a small southern community in Tennessee that – despite undergoing enormous demographic changes due to immigration – has made slow but significant headway promoting unity and understanding over division and fear. The approach utilized in the town of Shelbyville, which was developed by TIRRC through their Welcoming Tennessee Initiative, is now being replicated in 14 states across the country by Welcoming America.  

WHERE: Locations across the country, including: Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon and Tennessee. For a complete listing of dates and locations, click here.  

WHEN: October 17, 2010 – October 28, 2010  

WHO: Affiliates of Welcoming America and partner organizations.

Nationwide, week of October 17, 2010 – At a time when many U.S. communities are exploding with tension around immigration, grassroots and faith leaders in a southeastern community are about to tell a different story. Welcome to Shelbyville, a new documentary about how residents in their town have worked to understand, challenge, and accept new immigrants, will be the focus of events across the country the week of October 17.

The documentary features the efforts of Welcoming Tennessee, the model for all subsequent Welcoming America campaigns, as its local partners in Shelbyville, TN struggle to build a welcoming community. Set against the backdrop of a shaky economy, Welcome to Shelbyville takes an intimate look at a southern town as its residents – whites and African-Americans, Latinos and Somalis – grapple with their beliefs, their histories and their evolving ways of life. Welcome to Shelbyville is directed and produced by Kim A. Snyder and executive produced by BeCause Foundation in association with Active Voice.  

The film screenings are happening concurrently to highlight the significance of the documentary, as well as the efforts of Welcoming America, the national network that is working to replicate the efforts taking place in Shelbyville.  

Over the past fifteen years Shelbyville, Tennessee’s immigrant population – first Hispanics and later Somalis – has exploded. Although the growth rate has been faster in Shelbyville than in many other small communities across the country, in general it is representative of a national trend of immigrants settling in “non-traditional” destinations in levels never before seen in U.S. history. David Lubell, Executive Director of Welcoming America says: “this film demonstrates that rapid immigration growth in a community often leads to fear initially, but that efforts to convert that fear into understanding can be successful.”  

The documentary is the centerpiece of Shelbyville Multimedia, a set of digital and “on the ground” tools that will use the characters’ experiences to support productive approaches to the nation’s changing demographics.  

Welcome to Shelbyville will be broadcast on ITVS’s Independent Lens in the spring of 2011.    

** The event is part of a nationwide tour held in partnership with Welcoming America and Active Voice in association with the BeCause Foundation.  

Welcoming America is a national, grassroots-driven collaborative that works to promote mutual respect and cooperation between foreign-born and U.S.-born Americans. www.welcomingamerica.org.  

Kim Snyder is an award-winning filmmaker whose most recent film, Welcome to Shelbyville, is recipient of a Gucci-Tribeca Documentary Fund grant, a selection of the U.S. State Department’s 2010 American Documentary Showcase, and will air on PBS’s Independent Lens in early 2011.  

BeCause Foundation ignites social change through the powerful fusion of documentary filmmaking and creative outreach and engagement projects. www.becausefoundation.org  

Active Voice uses film, television and multimedia to put a human face on the issues of our times. www.activevoice.net  

Shelbyville Multimedia is funded in part by the Ford Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Andrus Family Fund and The Fledgling Fund. 

Photo credit: Greg Poschman 

Categories: Announcements

Brookings “Welcome to Shelbyville” Launch a Huge Success!

September 25th, 2010


Photo by Erin Sorenson. Panel participants from left: Margie McHugh- Migration Policy Institute; David Lubell- Welcoming America; Miguel Gonzalez- Welcoming Tennessee ambassador; Audrey Singer- Brookings Institution

The Welcome to Shelbyville launch at the Brookings Institution on September 15 was a huge success. The film highlights the work of Welcoming Tennessee, the model for all subsequent welcoming campaigns and a project of TIRRC. It was very well received by the 200+ participants in attendance. The panel afterward  included two members of the Welcoming network: Welcoming America Executive Director David Lubell and Welcoming Tennessee ambassador and Welcome to Shelbyville star Miguel Gonzales.

For a great article about Welcome to Shelbyville, which discusses the contributions of both Welcoming Tennessee and Welcoming America, click the following link (“How to Build a Nation of Neighbors”). The article is featured on the New Republic’s blog, and was written by Audrey Singer who moderated the Brookings panel.

The documentary will premiere on  ITVS’ Independent Lens series on PBS and be presented through ITVS’ Community Cinema program in Spring 2011.Welcome to Shelbyville is directed and produced by Kim Snyder and executive produced by BeCause Foundation in association with Active Voice.

The documentary will premiere on  ITVS’ Independent Lens series on PBS and be presented through ITVS’ Community Cinema program in Spring 2011.Welcome to Shelbyville is directed and produced by Kim Snyder and executive produced by BeCause Foundation in association with Active Voice.

Categories: Announcements

Nebraska is Home – Uniting Nebraska Communities

June 16th, 2010

Welcoming America’s Nebraska affiliate, Nebraska is Home, has been working in hard to build bridges in the community of Fremont, NE. They have also been working in several other communities across Nebraska (see below). The bonds of the Fremont community have been strained by the introduction of immigration related ordinances and referenda. Previously a divisive immigration ordinance was defeated by the town council. Unfortunately, on June 21st 2010 the citizens of Fremont voted in a referendum to pass an immigration-related policy that will increase community division, and inhibit immigrant integration. Nevertheless, Nebraska is Home Fremont will continue in its efforts to build mutual understanding and respect between immigrants and U.S. born residents.

Here’s what the editorial board of the Freemont Tribune has said about the campaign: “We as a community have a chance to show we still can be courteous and respectful. That chance is by supporting the Nebraska Is Home Fremont campaign.”

Nebraska is Home has also produced, printed and distributed thousands of visually appealing posters that contain positive messages about immigrants. These posters have become important tools for Nebraska’s many welcoming committees. They have also built very strong local campaigns in the towns of Crete, Fremont, Grand Island and Schuyler that have resulted in a positive shift in discourse.

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Categories: Announcements

Welcome: our new website!

June 16th, 2010

Welcome to Welcoming America’s new and improved website, launched June 19, 2010! We hope you enjoy the new web experience, and welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement. Please send comments to info@welcomingamerica.org .

Categories: Announcements

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