Welcoming America is pleased to announce that we have expanded our fundraising efforts to include a mobile giving and employer gift/volunteer match program! Read the rest of this entry »
Welcoming America Shares Experience in Canada
March 13th, 2013
Last week, Welcoming America’s Deputy Director, Rachel Steinhardt traveled to Canada to share the organization’s experience with colleagues in Ottawa and throughout Canada. The event, “Fostering Welcoming Climates,” was hosted by the US Embassy in Ottawa, Jewish Family Services of Ottawa, the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership, and numerous other local partners, and was broadcast live to US Embassies across Canada and the globe.
A news story published in the Ottawa Citizen discussed the event and work of Welcoming America, and its resonance in Canada. The session explored the context for welcoming communities in a world increasingly shaped by global migration, in which there are significant economic rewards for communities can attract the talent and ideas and vitality that newcomers bring. In order to reap these rewards, communities must create receptive and welcoming environments, and work to build positive relationships between immigrants and receiving communities. The event also featured a screening of the film Hawo’s Dinner Party: The New Face of Southern Hospitality. To access the presentation, visit: conx.state.gov/canada.
Will you join us in building more welcoming communities?
December 18th, 2012This holiday season, we ask you to make a donation and join us in creating stronger, more immigrant-friendly communities across the country. Just imagine what we could achieve if every community in America committed to building a welcoming climate, where all are welcome, accepted and integrated. 
With your support, every city and town in America could join with places like Salt Lake City, Utah, East Providence, Rhode Island, Tucson, Arizona and Dayton, Ohio – and more than a dozen other cities and towns to date – in proclaiming themselves welcoming communities that live up to the highest American values of acceptance and equality.
With your help, we know it’s possible to make every community a welcoming one. And the time for this work is now.
At no time in our nation’s history has there been a greater need to reach out to those with fears about their changing communities, nor a greater opportunity to support immigrants and their successful integration, and to secure a positive future for all Americans.
We have the tools to be successful, and we have already accomplished so much. Community by community, Welcoming America and its partners across the country have brought together more than 20,000 thousand of U.S. and foreign-born individuals around the country to find common ground, and to celebrate a simple shared belief: immigrants make us stronger.
Learn more about the impact your support can make and our accomplishments in the past year alone. Then, join us today by making a gift, and help make the dream of a more welcoming America come true.
About Your Gift
Your gift of $25, $50, $100 or $250 can make all the difference in building a nation of neighbors that live, work and play in your communities. Seventy-five cents of every dollar Welcoming America receives goes to support our countrywide network of members, partners and the communities they serve. Click here to donate.
Your donation:
- Helps leaders around the country transform their towns and cities into Welcoming communities.
- Changes the messages people hear about immigrants, such as through billboard and poster campaigns.
- Helps U.S.-born and immigrant community members meet and learn about each other’s values and cultures.
Welcoming America is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Your donation is fully tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.
At National Affiliate Conference, Welcoming by Definition
December 14th, 2012What does it mean to build a more Welcoming America? While the answer may be complex, we know that it all begins with a recognition of the talent and potential that every member of a community brings. And nowhere is that spirit more evidenced than in our own diverse community of practitioners – the leaders of Welcoming initiatives, who are the bright stars that remind us every day how much we all have to gain from creating a culture that embraces difference as the greatest force for generating new creativity and ideas.
Exchanging ideas at the National Conference
Last week, Welcoming America’s affiliate initiative leaders from 21 states across the U.S. met in Atlanta for Welcoming America’s 4th annual National Affiliate Conference. Over three days, our affiliates shared their work and experiences, along with their stories of the incredible innovation and impact happening in communities across the country.
Read the rest of this entry »
America is Changing – How Will Our Communities Adapt?
November 9th, 2012This week’s election placed the changing demographics of the United States front and center. As our communities continue to evolve, we must adapt to address new challenges, and also recognize that our growing diversity is an asset that contributes to our economic and social prosperity. Welcoming America’s network of initiatives across the country are a powerful force for building new bridges between newcomers and long-time residents, and for reminding Americans that our communities are strongest when everyone feels welcomed. This new video from our affiliate, Welcoming Michigan shows us how:
Welcoming America thanks Bus 52 for their time and talent in the production of this video.
Celebrating National Welcoming Week
September 14th, 2012As Immigrant Welcoming Movement Grows, Communities Unite Across U.S. for National Welcoming Week
From Dayton to Detroit, a growing movement of cities and local communities are recognizing and promoting the contributions that 
immigrants bring, and developing comprehensive efforts to attract and welcome them. Read the rest of this entry »
From Seed to Soil: Learn about Receiving Community Engagement at the NIIC
September 6th, 2012Join us at the National Immigrant Integration Conference in Baltimore, MD this September, where 
Welcoming America will host the Receiving Communities Track. One of seven exciting session tracks, the Receiving Communities track will share practical approaches for engaging everyday Americans in immigrant integration programming, and in building economically vibrant and successful communities. Read the rest of this entry »
National Welcoming Week 2012
August 5th, 2012Join us for National Welcoming Week 2012!
September 15th-22nd, in communities nationwide
Join Welcoming America affiliates and partners across the country for the first ever National Welcoming Week, a nationwide event that will promote meaningful connections and a spirit of unity between U.S. and foreign-born Americans
Visit www.welcomingamerica.org/get-involved/welcomingweek2012 to learn more about the event and about activities happening across the country.
Photo credit: Hillary Andrews, Pintbottle Photography for Welcoming Alabama
Partnerships in the Spotlight – USCIS
April 15th, 2012Welcoming America is pleased to highlight the USCIS as a partner of the Receiving Communities Initiative (RCI). Learn more about RCI
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), part of the Department of Homeland Security, is a strong leader in promoting the value of receiving communities strategies and is helping grantees to infuse these new approaches into their work, in order to achieve more successful outcomes.
Welcoming America recently conducted a webinar for USCIS Office of Citizenship grantees on how to incorporate receiving communities principles into citizenship programs. Citizenship programs are ripe for bringing together newcomers and native born residents, attracting the involvement of local leaders, and promoting positive and unifying messages in the community about the contributions of our newest citizens. One USCIS-funded program using a receiving communities approach involves local high school students as volunteer tutors for their civics tutoring program. Another established a partnership with the local police department on a civic engagement initiative to help the immigrant population set up neighborhood crime watch programs.
USCIS also incorporated receiving communities engagement in their funding application for citizenship programs, signaling the importance of this approach. Welcoming America is delighted to be working with USCIS as a partner in the growing receiving communities movement.
To learn more about the Receiving Communities Initiative, visit www.receivingcommunities.org.
Click here to read the most recent RCI e-news.
Vote Give Grow – and Support Welcoming!
April 9th, 2012Want to support more welcoming communities? Cast your vote today at www.votegivegrow.com!
Welcoming America has been chosen by Starbucks to partner in the Vote.Give.Grow program in recognition ofour efforts to make communities around the country more welcoming places for everyone who lives in them.
During the month of April, you can support our affiliates in Long Island, Boise, St. Louis, and Chicago by voting for them online with your Starbucks card. Each is in the running for up to $35,000 through the program.
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