Today, the New York Times published a great opinion piece that makes the case for immigrants as contributors, and highlights Welcoming America – and our colleagues at ImmigrationWorks – as being “at the forefront of helping migrants assimilate.” Welcoming America thanks the New York Times and author Dowell Myers for this pragmatic and compassionate take on what a welcoming America might look like.
Click here to read “The Next Immigration Challenge” by Dowell Myers for the New York Times.
Thanks to Welcoming America affiliate, Welcoming Rhode Island, the City of East Providence, Rhode Island has become the latest city to declare itself “welcoming.”
In a vote passed unanimously on January 3rd by the East Providence City Council, local elected leaders adopted a welcoming resolution, which states that the city is “committed to continue building a neighborly and welcoming atmosphere in our community where all are welcome, accepted and appreciated.” To view the full resolution and watch a video clip of the event, visit Welcoming Rhode Island’s recently-launched blog.
East Providence joins with communities in Alabama, Idaho, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Oregon, who have passed resolutions that declare their communities welcoming or “immigrant friendly.”
The White House Office of Public Engagement blogged about Welcoming America earlier this week, and shared how our work is at the forefront of helping America’s communities to be globally competitive and welcoming places for all people to live and work.
Read on for the full story or view it online.
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America is at a crossroads. From Alabama to Arizona, shuttered storefronts and barren fields tell the story of communities gripped by anxiety and fear. But fortunately there is another path.
Over the last year, Welcoming America and its affiliates have proactively reached out to thousands of individuals around the country to share a simple message: immigrants make us stronger.
Last week, Welcoming affiliate Uniting NC unveiled a new billboard campaign, including the image above. The launch of the billboards received broad media coverage, including yesterday’s story by the Huffington Post.
The billboards will help thousands across North Carolina benefit from their powerful, positive message. It’s but one example of the exciting and proactive work that Welcoming America is supporting around the country.
As the year ends, we welcome you to join us in celebrating just a few of the exiting achievements that Welcoming America, our affiliates, and our supporters made possible over the last year. If you are inspired, please DONATE to Welcoming America today. Your donation will directly support the work of our affiliates across the country.
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Welcoming America has already developed national reach, and will continue to grow until it has truly rekindled the American dream, coast to coast.
Currently, nineteen
campaigns – most of them statewide – are active across the country. This is up from just 7 campaigns in 2009. The demand for this dynamic new approach to addressing rapid immigration growth has proven quite high in communities across the country, and we anticipate significant growth in the number of affiliates over the next few years.
Welcoming America affiliate, Uniting NC, yesterday unveiled a statewide billboard campaign that sends the message, “immigrants make us stronger.” At a press conference convened by Uniting NC, leaders from the faith community shared their support and encouraged others to embrace the contributions made by immigrants to strengthening the community.
The billboards, which were supported by Welcoming America and funded largely through a grassroots campaign led by Uniting NC, will be shown first in Raleigh, followed by other locations throughout the state. For press coverage of the event and to follow the billboards, visit Uniting NC’s Facebook page.
Uniting NC is one of 19 Welcoming America affiliates around the country that is using positive messaging campaigns to highlight the shared values and contributions of immigrants in local communities. Using Welcoming America’s 3-pronged approach, affiliates also engage with local leaders and bring long-time and new residents together to learn about each other’s values and cultures. More examples of messaging campaigns are available on the Welcoming America website, along with a toolkit for affiliates or other groups interested in strategic communications.
“What will I take back to my community? A sense of hope and possibility.”
– participant, Receiving Communities track,
National Immigrant Integration Conference
It’s hard to convey the electrifying energy and optimism we felt in Seattle earlier this month at Welcoming America’s Affiliate Conference and the National Immigrant Integration Conference, organized by OneAmerica and the National Partnership for New Americans.
But we hope you’ll still get a sense for why hope and possibility were the words we heard over and over again from our 19 state affiliates and individuals from around the country.
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The City of Dayton recently announced the “Welcome Dayton” plan, whose aim is to make Dayton an “immigrant friendly city.”
You can read about the plan in the article, “Welcome Dayton Immigrant Plan Approved.” and view the Welcome Dayton plan, available here.
Welcoming America wants to help you make your own community “immigrant friendly.” Here’s how:
Start by registering at www.friendsofwelcoming.org. Once you register, you can begin doing online and offline “actions,” which help you earn points that can win you cool prizes.
Next, you can learn about welcoming strategies that can be applied in your community. Here’s just a few ways to begin:
We continue to be inspired by the submissions we’ve received on the Friends of Welcoming interactive community. Here are just a few excerpted comments from Friends responding to online Actions. We’ll keep updating, so check back soon.
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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
Learn more about this action and share your own response
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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
Learn more about this action and share your own response
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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
Learn more about this action and share your own response
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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
Learn more about this action and share your own response
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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
Learn more about this action and share your own poem
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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
Learn more about this action and share your own response
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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
See where our Friends movement is building on the map below. Registered Friends of Welcoming are pinpointed by zip code. Sign up today and complete your profile to add your location to the map!
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