News & Resources
Celebrating 10 years of Welcoming Week with a new identity, announcing 2022 theme
This September, Welcoming America and its network of 300+ nonprofit and local government members – as well as a broader coalition of partner organizations – will ring in the 10th anniversary of Welcoming Week. For the past decade, the annual celebration has taken place in communities through events, ceremonies, and other actions to commemorate the…
School boards in focus: sustaining democracy and pluralism by taking a step back
Through the pandemic, schools became one of the toughest places to navigate for students, parents, educators, and school board members. Over time, school board meetings became tense spaces where people released their frustrations on issues ranging from mask mandates to the role of race in student curricula, sometimes ending in school board members being removed…
Meet the #WomenOfWelcoming 2022
For Women’s History Month, we are highlighting some individuals that have dedicated their lives to building more inclusive and equitable communities where all people can feel as though they belong, including immigrants. They come from diverse backgrounds and work in fields ranging from inclusion experts to local government work. These women represent what it means…
Tulsa makes long-term plans to include immigrants in economic development through the Welcoming Economies program
In 2021, the Welcoming Economies program entered its second phase with five participating organizations. We sat down with one of the participants, Diane Eason Contreras, Director of Immigrant and Refugee Services for the YWCA Tulsa – East Community Center, to dig into their experience in the cohort on creating a more welcoming business environment in…
What we hope to hear on immigration in Biden’s first State of the Union address
A year ago, I wrote this celebratory post, commending the Biden Administration’s announcement that it would stand up the Task Force on New Americans, a mechanism for the federal government to advance a vision of full belonging for immigrant Americans and one that has existed since the Bush administration. A year later, the Administration faces…
Nonprofit empowers Black immigrant community through COVID recovery in St. Louis
I came to the U.S. in 2004 through the Diversity Visa Program (also known as the DV lottery). It is congressionally-mandated and allows up to 55,000 persons from nations that are historically underrepresented in terms of migration to the United States of America to qualify each year for immigrant visas, which are more commonly known…
A Note from Our Executive Director
Dear welcomers, As we enter 2022 in great flux, one constant is the durable power of welcoming infrastructure. As Afghans, Haitians, and other new arrivals join communities — and as communities look to forge trust and equitable policy and practice — we’ll be here to support our 300+ local partners to build lasting local infrastructure…
Differences give way to friendship over Somalian coffee in St. Cloud, Minnesota
In 2020, Welcoming America and its members worked in eight cities to bridge diverse communities and foster a deeper sense of belonging for local residents, including immigrants. This story is part of the Belonging Begins With Us campaign, which was funded in part by the Walmart Foundation. The central Minnesota where Natalie Ringsmuth grew up…