[Durham INC] Durham Named in Top 20 for Immigrant Integration

[Blalock, Amy]

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

 

 

News Release

 

For Details, Contact:

Amy Blalock

Sr. Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 11253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov

 

For Immediate Release:  February 8, 2011

 

 

Durham Named in Top 20 for Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Integration

National League of Cities Recognizes Durham in its "20 Cities, 20 Good Practices" Report

 

DURHAM, N.C. - The City of Durham's efforts to help integrate Hispanics into the community are being recognized by the National League of Cities (NLC) as one of the top U.S. cities whose practices should be emulated for promoting understanding of cultural differences between Latinos and other population groups.

 

The NLC's Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration recognized the Mayor's Hispanic/Latino Initiative for responding to immigration challenges in the absence of a national immigrant integration policy. According to the authors of the report, "U.S. cities are responding to immigration challenges by working together with civil society organizations to address critical issues. Local governments have a central role as key partners for developing and implementing immigrant integration programs in cities and towns across the U.S. Cities have a responsibility for promoting social cohesion, including helping to fully integrate their immigrant residents into the mainstream community. The 20 cities in this report are meeting these challenges and are providing good examples of how other cities can create their own immigrant integration programs. Lessons learned from these 20 cities suggest a number of policy recommendations for local officials and federal and state policy makers across the nation."

 

According to City of Durham Mayor William V. "Bill" Bell, to be recognized nationally for this initiative speaks volumes about Durham's commitment to instilling mutual respect and civility among all people. "My understanding is that Durham's program was selected out of hundreds that were reviewed by the report authors and is one more reason why our community should be very proud to have been selected for this honor," Bell said. "Since 2002, we have continually created active partners within City government and the Hispanic community to ensure that all those living in Durham, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, and language spoken, have access to the full range of City services."

 

In addition to Durham, the other 19 cities recognized in the report are Fort Wayne, Ind.; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Wash.; El Paso, Texas; Louisville, Ky.; Philadelphia; Columbus, Ohio; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Skokie, Ill.; Los Angeles; Boulder, Colo.; Santa Clara County and San Jose, Calif.; Littleton, Colo.; San Francisco; New York City; Washington, D.C.; Princeton, N.J.;  Richmond, Va.; and Houston.

 

Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration (MAII) is a project in NLC's Center for Research and Innovation. The primary goal of the project is to promote civic engagement and naturalization among immigrant communities in cities and towns across the U.S. MAII is designed to be a resource for NLC members, fostering a knowledge-sharing network to help cities learn from the successes and mistakes of their counterparts across the country. To read the complete report, Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Integration: 20 Cities, 20 Good Practices, visit the NLC website at www.nlc.org/ASSETS/E9098AFFF516466ABB2278433C739308/MAII_20%20Cities%20Report.pdf.

 

For more information about the Mayor's Hispanic/Latino Initiative, visit the City's website at www.DurhamNC.gov/departments/relations/hispanic.cfm or contact City of Durham Human Relations Director Yvonne Peña at (919) 560-4107, ext. 24245 or via e-mail at Yvonne.Pena at DurhamNC.gov. 

 

About the Department of Human Relations

The City of Durham's Department of Human Relations strives to improve race and human relations in the City by working to eliminate discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations; and by prioritizing community outreach and educational activities to meet the needs of Durham's citizens. To learn more about this department, visit www.DurhamNC.gov/departments/relations. 

 

###

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110208/8265db32/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 3070 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110208/8265db32/attachment.jpg>