City celebrates Welcoming Week

City celebrates Welcoming Week
<strong> Courtesy city of Grand Rapids </strong>

Grand Rapids will participate in a nationwide initiative this week.

City officials are inviting community members to take part in Welcoming Week through Sept. 18. This national campaign seeks to bring neighbors together to build connections and affirm the importance of inclusivity.

This year’s theme, Where We Belong, aims to spark reflection on belonging and how to break barriers to foster belonging for all, including immigrants and refugees.

For Grand Rapids, participation is part of year-round work associated with the Kent County Welcome Plan, according to Stacy Stout, the city’s director of equity and engagement.

The plan was built on the 2018 New Americans in Kent County report followed by more than 800 survey responses, focus group meetings and strategic thought partnership.

“The city of Grand Rapids helped guide the process to create the plan that centers the voice of immigrants and refugees, also referred to as new Americans, with the goal to create recommendations for systemic and programmatic change to guide individuals, organizations and policies to be more inclusive and welcoming for immigrants, as well as longtime residents,” Stout said.

Last year, the city launched the Welcoming GR series for staff and has worked to build stronger relationships through the African American and Refugee Advisory Taskforce in addition to ongoing training and engagement in the community.

“To fully leverage diversity as an asset, our community must create policies and a culture that ensure everyone belongs and thrives. This includes addressing disparities, countering hate, understanding history and helping neighbors come together,” said Mayor Rosalynn Bliss.

As part of Welcoming Week, educational posts can be found on the Facebook pages of the Office of Equity and Engagement and the Kent County Welcome Plan.