Charlotte Group Seeks to Mend Ties with Foreign-Born Residents
Charlotte Group Seeks to Mend Ties with Foreign-Born Residents
AS/COA’s immigration forum in Charlotte prompted the Charlotte City Council to establish an Inter-Agency Task Force to promote better integration of immigrants and educate the community on the economic and social benefits of its growing immigrant populations.
Rafael Prieto, editor of Charlotte’s Spanish language newspaper, felt a mix of relief and acceptance when the city last week decided to officially reach out to the city’s immigrant community.
For far too long Charlotte’s growing foreign-born population has felt like outcasts, said Prieto, editorial director of Qué Pasa Mi Gente and native of Colombia.
“I believe it’s a very important step for the entire immigrant community,” said Prieto, who came to the U.S. in 1979. “For a long time, the city hasn’t been as welcoming to immigrants.”
Prieto and others have praised the Charlotte City Council’s recent decision to set up a task force to promote ways to better integrate immigrants in civic groups, educational opportunities and public safety efforts.
While specifics remain unclear, the 25-member Immigrant Immigration Task Force also will be charged with expounding the benefits of a growing foreign-born population....
The idea for a task force stemmed from a May meeting with the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, a group whose aim is to increase cultural diversity awareness and engagement.
Council member David Howard said he’d share Charlotte’s task force resolution at an AS/COA summit in New York on Tuesday.
The resolution calls for Charlotte’s mayor to appoint seven task force members and the City Council to choose the rest from a list that will include representatives from CPCC, the Southeast Asian Coalition, and Mecklenburg Ministries, among others....
