It’s proving to be a busy year for Welcome Dayton staff and advocates! The city’s immigrant welcoming initiative continues to gain recognition from and collaborate with other organizations attempting to make their cities, regions, states and our nation more immigrant-friendly.

This month, Dayton City Commissioner and Welcome Dayton Committee Chair Matt Joseph will pay a visit to Washington, D.C. as he shares best practices and learns new ideas for immigrant integration during a special White House panel. The following day, Melissa Bertolo will also be in D.C. for a presentation to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with other representatives of immigrant-friendly programs and businesses for a presentation entitled “Open for Business: Spurring Local Economic Growth by Welcoming Immigrants.“

These two appearances are just the latest opportunities Welcome Dayton advocates have had to influence immigration efforts beyond Dayton.

• Program Coordinator Melissa Bertolo and Welcome Dayton champion Tom Wahlrab attended the Welcoming America Conference in Atlanta, GA. Both presented on the topics of community engagement and community-wide plans.
• Global Detroit Director Steve Tobocman recently paid a visit to Buffalo, NY, for the Congress for the New Urbanism gathering to present on “A Global Great Lakes: Immigrants & Urbanism.” While there, Steve sat in roundtable discussions and collaboration meetings with Welcome Dayton and the International Institute of Buffalo. Learn more about this trip here and here.
• Finally, Welcome Dayton joined other welcoming programs in Pittsburgh for the Global Great Lakes Network Convening. Melissa spoke on a panel with Al Heggins from High Point, NC and Leslie Aizenman from Pittsburgh, PA entitled, “Working Across Sectors to advance Immigrant Integration.” The discussion was moderated by Susan Downs-Karkos of Welcoming America.