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Letter from the
Executive Director  Dear Friends and
Colleagues,
The Welcoming Center wishes
you a very happy holiday season! This year, we
kicked off the holidays early with a very
successful 7th Annual Dennis Clark SOLAS Award
Dinner. We were honored to recognize the work of
Dr. Paul Farmer, Mr. Daniel Hilferty, and the
Honorable Estelle Richman. We are grateful to
all of our sponsors, especially our presenting
sponsor Amerihealth Mercy, and to all those who
attended the event. Over 400 people joined us in
raising awareness about access to healthcare.
Your support means a great deal to us.
To
continue the festivities, our newest initiative
Welcoming Center West is hosting a holiday event
series, Miracles on 52nd Street: Celebrating
Holidays from Around the World. We have
partnered with the 52nd Street Business
Association, the El Septa@Work Project, and the
Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation
to engage all members of the community this
season.
We hope that you will join us
at our location on 52nd and Locust, December 15
and 22 from 12-4 p.m. Enjoy a FREE photo
with Santa, photo frame decoration, a special
display showcasing holiday rituals from around
the world, music and more. (And don't miss
Annette John-Hall's terrific column from the
Dec. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer. Check
it out.)
Finally, in the spirit of
welcoming new Pennsylvanians: If you get the
opportunity to explain your own holiday
traditions or extend a welcoming hand to a new
arrival during the holidays, please
do!
Anne O'Callaghan
(Photo by Mary Heron. From left:
Mr. Daniel Hilferty, the Honorable Estelle
Richman, Dr. Paul Farmer, Anne
O'Callaghan)
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Get Into the Game
 Imagine you're an
trained athlete, all warmed up and ready to
play a game. But the coach looks right past you
and puts in another player. It happens over and
over -- and even worse, instead of playing your
heart out, you're only allowed to do laundry for
the team. What a waste that would be.
Every day, we see people whose skills
and talents are being wasted. Recently, we
worked with a man who had a bachelor's degree in
chemistry, and a burning desire to work in the
field for which he had been trained. A visa
lottery winner, he had come to the U.S. with
bright hopes. But after three years, he was
barely surviving on his income as a driver.
Although he was still searching eagerly for
better work, he was frustrated at the difficulty
in getting a foot in the door -- any door.
But the Welcoming Center's Yana Chernov
was optimistic. "When I met him, I knew that
he was such a determined person," she says.
"I thought, if he can show what he can do, he
can be hired." Remarkably, she was right: An
initial interview at a national medical-testing
company allowed him to demonstrate his English
and technical skills, and shortly afterwards,
he was hired as a lab technician,
starting at $12 per hour. Today he continues to
build his skills, while acquiring American
experience in the field of his dreams.
We wish that all of the people who come
to us with years of training and expertise could
find such work. To make that happen, we need
employers not to overlook the talent in our
midst. Instead, look to it. Because
it's a terrible waste for an elite player to be
stuck on the sidelines.
For more
information, contact the Welcoming Center's
Employment Department at
215-557-2626.
(Photo by Shawn
Zehnder Lea. Used with permission, via a
Creative Commons license).
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Your Story, Preserved
Forever  "It was a wonderful thing
to get to interview Dianah and know that her
story and our friendship is now part of our
national history."
That's Michelle
Cross, an employment specialist at the Welcoming
Center. Recently she and her longtime friend
Dianah Mwangi participated in a StoryCorps
recording session.
"It's an opportunity
for regular people to talk about their lives,"
Michelle says. Participants are asked to spend
30-40 minutes talking about a significant event
in their lives, such as falling in love, or
moving to a new country. Afterwards, they
receive a CD with an audio recording of their
session, and the session is archived at the
Library of Congress. In addition, excerpts are
aired on the StoryCorps website,
and on National
Public Radio.
We're pleased that
Michelle and Dianah were part of StoryCorps, and
that many immigrant voices are part of the
stories being collected for this important
project.
(Photo of StoryCorps
MobileBooth, by Justin Henry. Used with
permission, via a Creative Commons license.)
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Immigrant
Integration: A National Brainstorming Session
As mentioned in our last
newsletter, we were glad to be able to attend
the recent National Conference on Immigrant
Integration. We were lucky to meet colleagues
from Massachusetts to Colorado, and California
to Virginia.
The conference agenda was
packed with panel discussions and workshops.
From the Illinois Department of Human Services,
Grace Hou shared examples of how a public
agency has become more accessible to residents
of all national backgrounds. Scholars from
the Brooking Institution provided maps and
analysis of the impact of immigration on rural
communities and suburbs, explaining the
differences from the more well-known urban
immigration.
Researcher Tamar Jacoby
drew parallels between the "Americanization"
efforts of Henry Ford and the Girl Scouts of
America back in the 1920s, and the need for
integration efforts from business and other
leaders today.
And the Welcoming
Center's Fatimah Muhammad drew eager questions
after her presentation about cross-cultural
work with high school students and small
business owners. Colleagues Amanda
Bergson-Shilcock and Anne O'Callaghan also made
presentations, focusing on immigrant
professionals and the establishment of a new
organization, respectively.
"It was
especially valuable to hear how other states are
balancing the government versus individual-level
approaches toward integration," says Amanda. "In
theory, they should work hand in hand, so
individual volunteers can teach citizenship
classes, while public agencies tackle the
broader community issues. In practice, it's more
complicated."
The conference wrapped up
with a final chance opportunity for networking,
and a commitment from organizers to keep the
momentum going. We encourage you to bookmark the
website
and check back for details as they unfold!
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When you come to a new
country, you spend a lot of time acquiring
documents to prove a million important things:
who you are; where you live; your education,
immigration, and marital status ... the list
goes on and on. Here at the Welcoming Center, we
noticed that many of the immigrants we work with
were carrying around these precious documents
in tattered folders or well-worn Ziploc
bags. 
The Welcoming Center is
able to provide services through the generous
financial support of foundations, corporations,
public agencies, and individuals.