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Welcoming Week 2022: Where We Belong |
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September 9-18, 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of Welcoming Week, organized by the Welcoming America Network. Through Welcoming Week, organizations and communities bring together neighbors of all backgrounds to build strong connections and affirm the importance of welcoming and inclusive places in achieving collective prosperity.
This year's theme is "Where We Belong." By focusing on the places and spaces that have the potential to foster belonging (ie. cities, workplaces, neighborhoods, etc.), "Where We Belong" aims to go deeper and spark individual reflection on how and why belonging occurs, and ways we can break barriers so that places can foster belonging for all, including immigrants and refugees. Cities, towns, counties, and nations - and the institutions within them - have an important role to play when it comes to fostering belonging for all people.
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HOW TO CELEBRATE WELCOMING WEEK |
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Watch a Special Screening of "Minari" @ 4pm CST
Central Library Special Events Center - 710 W. Cesar Chavez Street
To bring together neighbors around this year's theme of "Where We Belong," Austin Public Library and the Equity Office are co-hosting a screening of the award-winning film, "Minari". Light refreshments will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. Learn more here.
Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to an Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
*The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. For assistance with reasonable modifications and equal access to communications, please call 512-974-7449.
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Read a Book from Austin Public Library's List of Recommended Reading for Welcoming Week!
Welcoming Week is an opportunity to celebrate communities and the people that make them places where everyone belongs. Austin Public Library is proud to welcome all those who call Austin home, whether they are long-time residents or recent arrivals. Check out these fiction and nonfiction titles for readers of all ages that celebrate and examine the experiences of various immigrant communities. Find the list of recommended reading here. Let us know what titles you're excited to read! |
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Enjoy a Welcoming Week International Brunch @ 11am-1pm CST
East Communities YMCA - 5315 Ed Bluestein Blvd
Stop by for an array of international food and fun activities! Free for all ages. |
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Become a Mentor with Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT) and Support Refugee Youth
The purpose of iACT’s Youth Program is to help young refugees navigate the challenges of education in the U.S. The teens who start the program over the summer are mentored through the next school year. iACT is in need of adult volunteers who can commit to spending an evening or afternoon a week with a teen and their siblings, assisting them with their academic challenges for the length of the school year. Learn more here about how to begin volunteering as a mentor.
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Welcoming America Webinar: Welcoming and the Arts @ 3pm CST
Art is an essential tool for sustaining and strengthening welcoming work. Join Welcoming America for a discussion on exploring how arts can transform, deepen, and enrich immigrant inclusion work. This webinar will be hosted in partnership with Church World Service College Edition. Learn more and register here for the webinar.
Speakers:
- Daniel Valdez, Welcoming America
- Alex Manuel, Students Rebuild
- Michael Johnson, Arts Midwest
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Narrative Strategy Basics for the Immigrant Movement @ 12pm CST
Level up your narrative strategy skills at this upcoming webinar! In this workshop, the Butterfly Lab at Race Forward will share tools, recommendations, and learnings for you to generate or refine a narrative project. This workshop is for you, whether you’re:
- an experienced narrative leader in the immigrant movement
- an immigrant movement organizer beginning their learning journey in narrative and cultural strategy, or
- a non-immigrant movement organizer curious about narrative strategy basics
ASL, closed captioning, and Spanish interpretation will be offered.
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Volunteer with Multicultural Refugee Coalition's New Leaf Farm
New Leaf Agriculture offers refugees from traditional farming cultures the chance to reconnect and grow in a trade that they are already passionate about. Volunteers help the refugee farm crew in building out our twenty-acre regenerative farm. You might do a variety of tasks such as creating farm pathways, establishing cover crops, forming new beds, harvesting, and many other things while working alongside our New Leaf crew. Learn more and sign up to volunteer here. |
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Celebrate Citizenship Day
Did you know that the City of Austin is part of Cities and Counties for Citizenship? Thanks to the leadership of Austin Public Library and with the support of Austin Public Health and USCIS, the City resumed hosting naturalization ceremonies last summer. Since then, we have been able to help approximately 2500 people become naturalized U.S. citizens. Watch this short feature on CityView about our naturalization ceremonies. |
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Support an Immigrant-Owned Restaurant / Food Truck
When you're heading out for lunch, stop by one of these Austin-area businesses today:
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