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The Story of Welcoming


State Updates

April, 2011

Many Welcoming America affiliates will be hosting a second round of Welcome to Shelbyville screenings in April and May of 2011 as part of ITVS’ community cinema project. Close to 90 community screenings of the film will take place in the next two months, some of which will be co-sponsored by local Welcoming affiliates. To see a listing of screenings, and find out if there will be a screening near you, CLICK HERE.

California: The Institute for Local Government is pleased with the results of its efforts working with local government officials in two cities in northern CA. Both communities are working with a broad-based group to plan and assess the feasibility of starting welcoming initiatives.

Idaho: The Welcoming Idaho initiative has recently re-launched efforts in Boise. They also had an extremely successful screening of “Welcome to Shelbyville” in Moscow with over 125 community members attending.

Massachusetts: Welcoming Massachusetts is excited to be partnering with Active Voice on the Torn From Home exhibit at the Boston Children’s Museum. In addition, they are working in Framingham, MA which has seen a large increase in its Brazilian population over the last decade.

North Carolina: After hosting two extremely successful screenings of Welcome to Shelbyville, Uniting NC has recruited dozens of volunteers to their efforts and is forming extensive and strategic partnerships. Beyond this, they have also produced several exciting media spots, including radio and video PSAs, which can be viewed here. The were awarded the North Carolina Peace Prize in early 2011.

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Fall 2010

  • Welcoming America hosted its first successful round of Welcome to Shelbyville screenings. Here’s where they took place:
    • Sunday, October 17: St. Louis, MO from 2pm-4pm at the Carpenter branch of the St. Louis Library, 3309 S Grand Ave. Co-sponsored and organized by KETC, Channel 9 and Welcoming Missouri. For more information, contact Jennifer Rafanan of Welcoming Missouri at jenny@stl-jwj.org.
    • Monday, October 18:
      • Aurora, CO – 6pm at the Aurora Fox Arts Theatre, 9900 East Colfax Ave. For more information, contact Karen Sherman Perez of Welcoming Colorado at karen@coloradoimmigrant.org.
      • Moscow, ID – 7pm at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, 508 South Main St. For more information, contact Kirsten McGinnis at kirsten@idahocan.org. This event is sponsored by: Welcomign Idaho, Latah County Human Rights Task Force, Moscow City Human Rights Commission, University of Idaho, CAMP, Latino Law Caucus, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc, and M.A.S.
    • Tuesday, October 19
      • Glenwood Springs, CO – 6pm at the Ramada Inn & Suites, 124 W. 6th St. For more information, contact Karen Sherman Perez of Welcoming Colorado at karen@coloradoimmigrant.org.
      • Longmont, CO – 6pm at the Longmont Public Library, 409 4th Ave. For more information, contact Karen Sherman Perez of Welcoming Colorado at karen@coloradoimmigrant.org.
      • Lincoln, NE – 7pm (doors open at 6:30) at the Bourbon Theatre, 1415 “O” St. For more information, contact Darcy Tromanhauser of Nebraska Is Home at dtromanhauser@neappleseed.org.
    • Thursday, October 21:
      • Birmingham, AL – 6:30pm-8:30pm at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, 520 16th Street North. Co-sponsors include: Alabama Faith Council, Latinos Unidos de Alabama, Alabama Applseed, Welcoming Alabama, Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham and the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama. For more information, contact Zayne Smith of Welcoming Alabama at Zayne.smith@alabamaappleseed.org.
      • Cambridge, MA – 6pm at Harvard University in the Thompson Room in the Barker Center. Co-sponsored and organized by the Pluralism Project and Welcoming Massachusetts. For more information, contact Alex Hernandez-Siegel at ahernandezsiegel@gmail.com.
      • Charlotte, NC – 7pm at the Levine Museum for the New South, 200 E. 7th St. Co-sponsored by Uniting NC. For more information, contact Kristin Collins of Uniting NC at kristin@unitingnc.org.
      • Grand Junction, CO – 5:30pm at the Central Library of the Mesa County Libraries, 530 Grand Ave.  For more information, contact Karen Sherman Perez of Welcoming Colorado at karen@coloradoimmigrant.org.
    • Friday, October 22: Fitchburg, MA - 7pm at the Rabbit Hole, 805 Main St. Co-sponsored and organized by Welcoming Masschusetts and the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center. For more information, contact Joana Dos Santos at joana_d@cleghorncenter.org.
    • Wednesday, October 27: Raleigh, NC – 7pm at the Galaxy Cinema, 770 Cary Towne Boulevard, Cary, North Carolina. For more information, contact Kristin Collins of Uniting NC at kristin@unitingnc.org.
    • November, November 19: Nashville, TN – 5:30pm at the Scarritt-Bennett Center, Laskey Great Hall, 1008 19th Avenue South. For more information, contact David Morales at david@tnimmigrant.org.
    • Sunday, November 20: Fairhope, AL – 7pm-9pm at the Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship, 1150 Fairhope Ave. Co-sponsored and organized by Welcoming Alabama and the Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship.  For more information, contact Zayne Smith of Welcoming Alabama at Zayne.smith@alabamaappleseed.org.
    • December, Date TBD: Monmouth, OR. Details TBA.

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June, 2010

Click here for more on all of our Welcoming affiliates, including contact information.

Alabama: Welcoming Alabama is working with partners in Dothan to re-launch their billboards and are hoping to pass welcoming resolutions in at least two communities in the coming months.

Colorado: Welcoming Colorado launched their campaign in April! They’ve had AMAZING media coverage and lots of enthusiasm for their work. They had events in all of their five welcoming communities across the state. The activities were numerous and diverse and included press conferences in every community, paid media in eight communities, as well as direct public engagement events!! You can check out their GORGEOUS media work and find links to articles about their work at:

Long Island, NY: Welcoming Long Island has started two Welcoming committees in the towns of Port Jefferson and Belmore. These committees are currently engaged in planning their strategic communications and public engagement work.

Massachusetts: Welcoming Massachusetts hosted a book signing and event in Fitchburg in May with the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center. At this event, the Mayor of Fitchburg spoke about the important of making their area Welcoming to all residents. In addition, the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center is working to promote dialogue between U.S.-born and immigrants by hosting monthly community dinners at a local church.

Nebraska: The Nebraska is Home Fremont group hosted an amazing reception in late March at the Fremont Area Art Association. The event’s purpose was to honor 21 people, immigrants or descendants of immigrants to the Fremont area, who tell their stories in the special project, “Building Fremont: Immigrants 1856-Present.” The project was sponsored by the Fremont Tribune, Fremont Area Art Association, United Commercial Food and Workers Union, Local 22 and Nebraska Is Home Fremont. The 21 immigrants’ stories were printed in a month-long series in the Fremont Tribune and told through photographs in a companion art exhibit at the Fremont Area Art Association featuring the photography of Dean Jacobs. During the event, speakers from the faith, arts, and labor communities spoke as well as the Executive Editor of the Fremont Tribune. The most moving part of the evening was when a few of the people who were featured in the stories spoke, including a recent immigrant who was so moved by the event that he was too choked up to speak. One of the town “matriarch’s” got up at the end of the event to wish the immigrants in the town a warm “Welcome to Fremont.”

North Carolina: Uniting North Carolina hosted a successful community dialogue a in April. The event involved participants sitting at tables, sharing a meal and their stories. Examples of participants included (among others) students from the Trail of Dreams tour and several community leaders who aren’t seen as being immigrant allies. Reports are that people were respectful, listened well and came away with a deeper understanding of each others’ experiences. There are also plans in the works to have a session this summer with the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte. The museum will draw from its experience leading a terrific program designed to educate community members about the local history of immigration and challenge residents to talk and think about what their community is currently experiencing.

Oregon: Rural Organizing Project is planning to kick off their campaign in two areas of Oregon, and is currently in the process of figuring out how to do some low-cost measurement of sentiments within the targeted receiving communities. By connecting with professors that worked with the Idaho and Missouri campaigns on public opinion polling, they have been able to gain new perspectives and are now putting the finishing touches on their plans to guage public opinion. After the pre-evaluation work is done, Oregon will use their results to help determine the two final counties where their work will focus.

http://www.itvs.org/screenings?film=welcome-to-shelbyville