Join Welcoming America!
May 22nd, 2011Welcome to Shelbyville Premiers on PBS May 24!
May 14th, 2011Welcome to Shelbyville takes an intimate look at a southern town as its residents–blacks, whites, Latinos, and Somalis–grapple with their beliefs, their histories, and their changing way of life. The film is directed and produced by Kim A. Snyder and executive produced by the BeCause Foundation in association with Active Voice.
The documentary features the efforts of Welcoming Tennessee – a project of TIRRC – the model for all subsequent Welcoming America campaigns. Welcoming America is working to replicate initiatives such as the one in Shelbyville across the United States.
In most communities the screening will be from 10:00-11:00pm. Check local listings here to find out what time this groundbreaking documentary will be airing in your community.
Huffington Post Profiles Welcoming America
April 14th, 2011Beyond Jan Brewer And Lou Dobbs: A Calm Center In The Immigration Debate
Click Here to view on Huffington Post’s web site
In 2002, shortly before the Iowa caucuses, billboards began popping up in small towns across the state. The signs, featuring archival photos of German, Scandinavian and Eastern European immigrants — all of whom had emigrated in numbers to the state in past generations — read: “Welcome the Immigrant You Once Were.”
The billboards were part of a statewide effort to influence the discussion on immigration, according to Devin Burghart, Vice President of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights and one of the campaign’s organizers. “We saw efforts to toxify the climate, to make it less hospitable to new immigrants into the state,” he says. “We knew where things were going [on immigration], but we had a hard time convincing people that it was going to get as nasty as it did.”
The current tenor of the immigration debate makes 2002 — a time when Jan Brewer was still largely unknown to the American public — look like the Golden Age of Tolerance.
But, even though the tone of the national debate has heated up, communities in several states across the country are coming together to address the anxiety and fear surrounding immigration in a bid to strengthen ties between foreign born and native residents.
Born out of those first billboards in Iowa, the effort coalesced into a national group called Welcoming America in 2007. Four years later, the movement is currently operating in 15 states: from Birmingham, Alabama to Crete, Nebraska to Yamhill County, Oregon.
Along with billboards, there are now posters, radio ads, and television PSAs extolling welcoming messages. Complementing these efforts are dances, potlucks and picnics convened by local “Welcoming Committees” and held in partnership with Rotary clubs, church groups and civic organizations, all in an effort to forge stronger, more integrated communities.
Watch the video PSA below created by Welcoming America affiliate Uniting North Carolina:
CLICK HERE to listen to one of Uniting NC’s radio ads.
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.
Mayor of Birmingham, AL issues Welcoming Proclamation
July 29th, 2010
On Wednesday, July 28th the Mayor of Birmingham, William A. Bell, Sr., issued a proclamation declaring Birmingham a city that is “welcome to all.” The effort for the proclamation was a joint effort of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice and Welcoming Alabama. The proclamation commends the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, on their “Celebration of Immigrant Communities” event and goes on to declare:
“Whereas: As Maya Angelou stated ‘We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.’ and
“Whereas: The City of Birmingham is making a historic proclamation that this city is welcome to all and will reject any policies that divid our community.”
Welcoming Alabama coordinator, Zayne Smith, stated: “This is an exciting day where the largest city in Alabama is proclaimed to be a Welcoming city. We hope that other cities across our state follow their example and work to make immigrants feel more welcome so that we can build bridges between the U.S.-born Alabamans and their immigrant neighbors. ”
“By issuing this proclamation, the mayor is clearly stating that Birmingham is a city that believes that communities that are stronger when they work together,” said Ellen Gallagher, Director of Programs for Welcoming America.
Welcoming Alabama is one of 13 state affiliates of Welcoming America. Welcoming America is a national, grassroots-driven collaborative that works to promote mutual respect and cooperation between foreign-born and U.S.-born Americans. The ultimate goal of Welcoming America is to create a welcoming atmosphere – community by community – in which immigrants are more likely to integrate into the social fabric of their adopted hometowns
To learn more about Welcoming Alabama and other Welcoming campaigns across the country, visit www.welcomingamerica.org/about-us/our-affiliates/.
Pictured top left: Welcoming Alabama coordinator, Zayne Smith, is presented with the proclamation by Charles Long, Executive Administrative Assistant to the Mayor. Pictured bottom right: an image of the proclamation.
Welcoming Massachusetts – the Welcoming Resolution Champions
June 16th, 2010
Welcoming Massachusetts has received the endorsement of over 50 elected officials, had Welcoming resolutions passed in 7 cities and towns, and received well over 6000 individual endorsements. The initiative is currently focusing on the communities of Fitchburg and Framingham. For more information on this initiative or to get involved, contact Marcony Almeida at malmeida@miracoalition.org
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<!–[if !supportLists]–>o <!–[endif]–> Welcoming Massachusetts has received over 6,600 signatures in support of its campaign, the endorsement of over 50 elected officials, and had Welcoming resolutions passed in support of the campaign in 7 cities and towns.
Welcoming Tennessee – National Award Winner
June 16th, 2010
Welcoming Tennessee, the first Welcoming campaign – and model for all subsequent campaigns – won the Migration Policy Institute’s E Pluribus Unum award for exceptional immigrant integration initiatives in 2009. Find out more about their award-winning approach by clicking here. Find out the latest on their campaign by visiting their website.
