Building a More Welcoming America

Although most Americans identify their country as a “nation of immigrants,” many are anxious about the rapid demographic changes that have taken place in their communities over the past 20 years. During this time, immigration to the U.S. has grown at a pace not seen since the early 1900s.

The level of discomfort has been most pronounced in “new immigrant gateways”—such as Nashville, Boise, and Omaha—whose immigrant populations have grown at much faster rates than in traditional receiving states such as New York and California.

Welcoming America focuses on addressing the fears and concerns that many native-born Americans have about local immigrant growth. We empower supportive residents of local communities—immigrants and U.S.-born together—to disseminate positive messages about local immigrants through mass-communication such as billboards, letters to the editor and social media platforms; and bring immigrants and U.S. born community members into direct contact, often for the first time, through local gatherings.

Welcoming America’s 14 affiliate partners across the country have reached tens of thousands of Americans who previously had—at best—mixed feelings about recent, local immigrant growth. Many of these individuals have overcome their apprehensions and become part of efforts to make their communities more welcoming to recent arrivals.

A prime example of the promise of Welcoming America is the town of Shelbyville, Tennessee. Between 1990 and 2000, Bedford County—of which Shelbyville is the county seat—saw a 1500% increase in its Hispanic population. Then, starting in 2002, it saw a large influx of Somali refugees. By 2010, almost 20% of Shelbyville’s population was born in another country.

Throughout this period of rapid demographic change, very little was done to explain to residents why immigrants were arriving in such numbers. Unfortunately, over time, misunderstandings and tensions between long-time residents and immigrants got closer and closer to the boiling point. Similar tensions boiled over in a neighboring town, Columbia, where a mosque was burnt to the ground in a hate-inspired attack in 2008.

Welcoming Tennessee, a project of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and the model for all subsequent Welcoming initiatives, began working in Shelbyville in 2007. The need for increased understanding between groups was quite evident, and there were a number of influential leaders in both the immigrant and U.S.-born populations who had already begun efforts to build bridges between communities.

I was the executive director of TIRRC at the time the Shelbyville initiative was launched, and witnessed many of the challenges and successes first-hand. Although things were slow-going, positive change ultimately began to take root. Families began to welcome immigrant neighbors into their homes for dinner, some local elected officials began to call for a more welcoming atmosphere, and overall relations between communities began to improve.

The progress made in Shelbyville was a result of the work of local Welcoming leaders such as Luci Taylor, Miguel Gonzalez, Hawo Siyad, and Beverly Hewitt. Their efforts, which continue up to this day, are on full display in the new documentary Welcome to Shelbyville, which will air on PBS on May 24, 2011.

These and other local leaders are also featured on Shelbyville Multimedia website, created by Active Voice. The film is directed and produced by Kim Snyder and executive produced by the BeCause Foundation in association with Active Voice.

Welcoming America is also finalizing an online platform called Friends of Welcoming which will act as a “virtual net” to catch the thousands of individuals and organizations who want to replicate the Welcoming work in their own communities. Individuals who register will be given access to tools and activities to help make their communities more welcoming.

Active Voice is also producing “All American Welcome,” a dvd featuring scenes from Welcome to Shelbyville that exemplify our model, while providing additional context on how it can work for a range of communities and audiences.

Through these new tools, as well as through a rapidly growing network of our affiliate organizations, we hope to help improve the national climate for immigrants at a time when such a shift is desperately needed.