Start here: By reading “A Menu of Options” for Building Welcoming Communities in 2012
ROP tools for planning Welcoming Communities organizing:
- ROP’s guide for organizing Welcoming Communities across Cultures, based on the best practices we’ve pulled together over time.
- Our framework for looking at models of immigrant integration is a good conversation starter when groups are grappling with questions of how to integrate immigrants into the community, and whose responsibility it is.
Film Resources that ROP can lend your group:
- Immigration on Mainstreet is a 30 minute PBS film that looks at two towns and how they respond to undocumented immigration. One mayor wants local law enforcement to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The other has made the town a “Sanctuary City” – a place where efforts are made to protect the civil rights of law-abiding undocumented immigrants.
- Welcome to Shelbyville is the story of a Tennessee community and how a small multi-ethnic group of people build relationships that help to navigate a period of change. The film is just an hour, leaving time for storytelling and discussion. Here is the Welcome to Shelbyville Discussion Guide that goes with the film.
- Papers the Movie is a film about Oregon’s undocumented youth – DREAMers – who were brought to the country at a young age, then turn 18 to realize they are locked out of employment and college.
Public Declarations supporting Welcoming Communities:
- This resolution was passed by the Immigrant Information Response Team, a part of Coastal Progressives in Lincoln County. This is the Newport resolution, though similar versions were passed in 3 other towns.
- This is an article about the resolution passed by Welcoming Idaho to our east.
Stories Projects:
- This flyer from Polk Cafe Commons advertises their stories project, a way of documenting stories of immigrants. Why did they come? What do they contribute to the community?
- This short video from Uniting North Carolina is an inspiration to us. It documents both immigrants and non-immigrants with simple reasons why we migrate, and why we support those who join our communities.
Understanding Deportations and Addressing Fear:
- This presentation on deportations from Immigrant Family Advocates in Central Oregon covers the basics and the facts on the policies and impacts of deportation. This was presented at the Bend City Club and ROP can help you tailor it to your community.
- This article describes a forum organized by ROP and Immigrant Information Response Team in Lincoln County addressing relationships between local law enforcement and the immigrant community.
Do you have tools to share, or want to talk through how to use each of these? Contact office@rop.org.
Don’t miss our Welcoming Communities homepage for links to the most recent stories from around the state.