Austin Welcoming City Initiative

Austin Welcoming City Logo - English

 

In 2014 the City of Austin launched the International Welcome Program and was one of the first municipalities in the country to officially become a Welcoming City through Welcoming America.

This formalized the City of Austin’s commitment to being a welcoming, immigrant-friendly community. With 19% of Austin residents being foreign born, the City of Austin is embarking on its own Welcoming City Initiative through which Austin residents will be asked to and have an opportunity to inform and define what welcoming means in the context of our own community.

To this end, ISNA has partnered with the Commission on Immigrant Affairs, the City of Austin’s Economic Development, Department, Health and Human Services Department  and Cap Metro to plan and launch the City of Austin’s Welcoming City Initiative and Forum.  This public consultation process will engage diverse stakeholders and the community-at-large in assessing how welcoming Austin is and defining Austin as a Welcoming City towards the future. ISNA will be seeking out organizations to assist with and participate in conducting focus groups of immigrant residents as a part of this process. It is scheduled to begin October 2014. If you are a member of an organization that is interested in helping us host and facilitate a focus group with your immigrant clients, please contact Laramie Gorbett.

AUSTIN WELCOMING CITY SURVEYS

Your input will directly inform a visioning document for Austin as a Welcoming City, please take a moment to participate in whichever of the following surveys is applicable to you:

The final report will be available in spring/summer 2015 at this website: http://austintexas.gov/internationalwelcome

AUSTIN WELCOMING CITY SUMMIT

Palmer Events Center
February 23, 2015, 7:45 AM- 7:00 PM
February 24, 2015, 8:00 AM- 2:00 PM

Ideal attendees for this FREE Summit are individuals that work closely with Austin’s immigrant population either from a service provider perspective (government, healthcare, academia, non-profit sectors) as well as individuals from the business community that recognize the economic growth implications of this part of our community.

The Austin Welcoming City Summit will convene community stakeholders to network while exploring the “Welcoming City” concept as it exists nationwide. It will provide participants the opportunity to learn about recognized best practices in immigrant integration and further inform Austin’s own Welcoming City vision. Social Work CEUs will be provided.  Registration will be available until Friday, February 13, 2015. For more information or to register please click here.