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Why Do You Think Your Community Needs to be More Welcoming?

“Michigan has changed a lot over the last few decades. Even I have changed a lot as I meet many of our new residents…Honestly, I was not so open to immigrants in the past, probably from media portrayals but most likely because we just didn’t interact.

If there were nothing such as Welcoming America or other initiatives to engage people, I think everything would continue in the same way, and we would have tons of divided little societies within America, but thankfully, there is a way to redirect people’s attitudes toward rethinking immigration and immigrants.”

- Pat, Michigan

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Watch, Learn and Reflect – Shelbyville UNITY Night Video

“I was impressed with the sincerity with which people communicated with one another.  I need to engage my neighbors. As we communicate, we will build relationships.”

- Cara

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Taking Action: A Response to Unwelcoming Remarks

This Friend shares his experience speaking with a family member who raised concerns about immigrants:
“’Regardless of political thoughts regarding immigration,’ I said, ‘these people are already here, and as good neighbors, we ought to help them out and befriend them.’ For a moment, she thought about the issue, and she was persuaded that my cause was not so bad after all… we should show hospitality to those who have arrived in our hometown.

There are many people in my family that hold similar beliefs when it comes to immigration, and perhaps even more can be persuaded.

I really believe that the next step in this dialogue is to bring people of different cultures back to my hometown and introduce more people to the diversity of the world. People will get to know their neighbors as more than a statistic of globalization, but as real people, with real hopes and dreams.

- Ken, Michigan

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Watch, Learn and Reflect – Shelbyville UNITY Night Video

“Everybody is my neighbor and we need to help each other and accept everybody. That is my philosophy too and I am glad to hear another woman in Shelbyville express it too.”

- Julie, Ohio

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A Welcoming Poem Submission

See the friend in every face
See the neighbor in every name
See the American in every immigrant
See

-John, Tennessee

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Taking Action: A Response to Unwelcoming Remarks

“I have responded with comments on the Springfield Newsleader blog… anti-immigrant, racist attacks are not acceptable.”

- Angela, Missouri

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A Response to Why Do We Care? PSA

By highlighting the ways that immigrants enhance U.S. citizen’s lives, this video [Why Do We Care? PSA by affiliate Uniting NC] attempts to get communities to understand the breadth and depth of the positive impact that immigrants have on a community. Because this video shows a variety of different ways that immigrants and Americans have had positive interactions, this video is effective in reaching a large audience.

The combination of having people of all different ages and nationalities showing quotes that illustrate the numerous ways that immigrants have shaped people’s lives is effective.

- Natalie, Washington DC

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