Letter from the Executive Director
 

Greetings!

Here at the Welcoming Center, 2006 has been a wonderful -- albeit busy -- year. Our employment program helped place more than 110 immigrants from over 62 countries in jobs, all over the region. These job placements represent an increase of 60% from last year. Many of these jobs also offer full-time benefits and career ladders for our clients, who just a few years ago thought that America’s dream was not their own.

Our Project Bridging Cultures Program at South Philadelphia High School has expanded to serve more than half of the over 200 English as a Second Language students, a growth of nearly 100% since the program began in 2004. We help these immigrant students by providing mentoring, tutoring, and life skills programs so that they can navigate this country’s opportunities successfully. With our help, they are learning about such things as how to apply for college and get financial aid, how to obtain a driver’s license, and the advantages and disadvantages of owning a credit card.

This year, we also conducted several public policy seminars, revamped our website, and added a job readiness training program to help our clients contribute to the regional Philadelphia economy. More than 500 people attended our public policy seminars and our website gets thousands of hits each month.

Our monthly legal clinics, which began in May, have served over 130 people. This is made possible by the generosity of our volunteer lawyers, who donate their time.

We do not plan to rest during 2007. In partnership with the Welcome Center of Upper Darby, we are opening up a satellite office in Delaware County so that we can better serve the growing suburban immigrant workforce. We also plan to strengthen our business services so that we can continue to help business leaders find a diverse, trained and eligible workforce.

We will continue our monthly legal clinics, and expand our Bridging Cultures work. We also promise a year packed with informative public policy seminars.

All of what we do –- be it our referral service, our direct employment service, our legal clinics, or our public policy seminars -– aims to promote the independence and assimilation of the region’s immigrant population. Our success is Pennsylvania’s economic success. If our growing numbers of people and businesses served during 2006 is any indication of the region’s desire to compete within a global economy, then we are all on the right track. We will continue to grow so that we can meet these demands and help all Pennsylvanians.

Thank you again for your support and interest in the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians.

Anne O’Callaghan

 

 The Top 5 Myths About the Welcoming Center
 

It’s hard to know how rumors get started, but this is the place to set them straight. Read on –- and feel free to send us your own favorite myths for reply in a future newsletter.

1. The Welcoming Center serves only Irish immigrants.

Not true! Our services are not just open to everyone, but used by everyone. In 2006, the Welcoming Center served people from 62 countries around the world, and the country most represented among our employment clients was Liberia. Two out of three (67%) of our employment clients are people of color. More than a third (39%) of our legal clinic clients come from Africa and Asia. And our Bridging Cultures work at South Philadelphia High School and in West Philadelphia helps to foster assimilation and understanding among immigrants from every region, in addition to longtime Philadelphians of all ethnic backgrounds.
2. The Welcoming Center is a social-service agency.

Nope. While we think that social-service agencies can do great work, our focus is on economic development. We believe that getting a job –- or starting your own business -– is a crucial step in becoming part of your new society. For that reason, we focus on connecting workers and employers, helping entrepreneurs to navigate the licensing process, and facilitating community dialogue to help in the assimilation process. When our clients need help with housing, healthcare, or other social services, we are delighted to refer them to the many qualified providers in the Philadelphia region.
3. The Welcoming Center is run by unions.

Not true. We are a stand-alone nonprofit organization and we always have been. We were not founded by politicians or unions, and we do not make political endorsements. As a newborn organization in 2003, we were lucky that the AFL/CIO allowed us to temporarily sublet office space. Today we are appreciative of the volunteer services of all 24 of our board members, including the three who are affiliated with unions. And we are grateful for all of the funding we receive, including the 2% of our budget that comes from union sources.
4. The Welcoming Center only works with highly-educated immigrants.

No. Our clients run the gamut from those with extremely limited education to those with expert credentials and terminal degrees. As is typical of immigrant populations in the U.S., there is a “barbell” shape to the educational pattern -– we work with many people at each end of the educational spectrum, but fewer in the middle. This is a natural result of federal immigration policy, and not unique to the Welcoming Center.
5. The Welcoming Center has lots of money.

We wish that were true! What is correct is that the Welcoming Center has been lucky to receive funding from a variety of sources. Like all nonprofits, we work weekends to write grant proposals, we attend countless meetings to negotiate government contracts, and we pound the pavement to search for corporate donors. Each spring we pour our efforts into our SOLAS award event, and each winter we hand-sign many annual-appeal letters. The Welcoming Center is very lucky to have achieved a $500,000 annual budget in our fourth year of operations. It seems that the harder we work, the luckier we get –- and of course, the more people we are able to serve. With your support, we will be able to keep pace with the growing number of immigrants seeking to find their American Dream.

 

 Frank Sharry Lectures at Welcoming Center Luncheon
 

“I think we have a better than average chance of getting comprehensive immigration reform in the next twelve months...I also think it’s going be really hard.” This was the message immigration policy expert Frank Sharry delivered to the attendees of a recent luncheon co-sponsored by the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians and Al Día. In his talk, “The Economic Need for Immigration Reform,” Sharry speculated about different near-term approaches the federal government could take in addressing immigration reform, and described the U.S. economy’s need for foreign-born labor.

As the Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, Sharry enjoys an up-close view of the Washington political arena, and his expertise is frequently called upon by members of the press and legislative staff. In his luncheon remarks, Sharry reviewed two immigration bills under consideration in Congress: the House-sponsored Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (HR 4437) and the Senate-sponsored Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (SB 2611).

“Last year, we saw two different visions for where immigration could go,” said Sharry, who spoke critically of the House bill, calling it an impractical “enforcement bill,” while characterizing the Senate bill more positively. Praising the Senate provision allowing for greater numbers of immigrants to enter the United States to work, he added: “You cannot enforce the law effectively unless you have sufficient visas.”

For those who advocate an immigration policy similar to the Senate bill, Sharry believes the next twelve months represent a window of opportunity. Once presidential primaries begin, he noted, candidates will work to appeal to their core constituents, and bipartisan collaboration will become difficult or even impossible. "Immigration is an issue which generates more heat than light," Sharry remarked, adding "politicians need cover and support to get things done." Nevertheless, Sharry believes that if the federal government can reform immigration, it could be “the greatest victory for people of color since the civil rights movement.”

Perhaps the best perspective on the day’s events was provided by Welcoming Center Executive Director Anne O’Callaghan. Introducing Sharry as speaker, she observed: “Frank is able to advocate on the thorniest of issues. Somebody might not always walk away agreeing with him, but they will think the discussion was worth it.”

 

 Job Readiness Training Students Celebrate Graduation
 

Beaming smiles and cheers were the order of the day as the Welcoming Center celebrated the graduation of 25 students from our Job Readiness Training program. With family members and friends on hand, graduates received resounding applause as they stepped forward to collect their certificates of completion from instructor Linda Brusco. For a group of immigrants hailing from Taiwan, Liberia, Togo, Ukraine and the Philippines, many of whom came to America without English skills or financial resources, this event commemorated a significant accomplishment.

The Welcoming Center’s Job Readiness Training program assists work-authorized immigrants in developing their English language fluency, mathematics proficiency, and computer skills. “These skills are an important stepping stone to better employment opportunities,” says Executive Director Anne O’Callaghan, pointing out that JRT graduates are working in the region’s growing healthcare and hospitality industries. “We are delighted that so many of our graduates are already putting their talents to work.”

In order to graduate, candidates were required to attend classes three times a week for 15 weeks, participate regularly in class, and demonstrate improvements in their reading, math, typing, and software skills. Of the 29 students who enrolled in the program last summer, 25 completed their training and received certificates.

Most graduates will contribute their newly-acquired abilities directly to the work force, but others will continue their education. Bartholomew Jacob Iliya and Nana Tassa have already passed their entrance exams for the Community College of Philadelphia. Bartholomew is studying to become an engineer, and Nana hopes to become an accountant.

The Welcoming Center congratulates our graduates:

Judith Boatemaa
Kenyata Brisbine
Mataline Brisbine
Fatimata Coulibaly
Lapeh Dennis
Svetlana Fayzullayeva
Genevee Mama Gibson
Zina Glukhovskiy
Bartholomew Jacob Iliya
Nsira Kaba
Chiu-Ling Ko
Henry Koffi
Shekuba Koita
Roselyn Koiyan
Natalya Landa
Ndeye Ndiaye
Halima Sherif
Carol Spencer
Bernard Steele
Wata Tambah
Nana Tassa
Josephine Todd
Alma Veto
Jelemu Zarzar


To learn more about our trainings for immigrants, call Margaret at 215-557-2859.