Welcome Toledo-Lucas County

In partnership with Refugee Welcome Collective, we are excited to share a new self-paced training for local welcomers across the country!

Who's it for? 💭 Individuals and sponsor groups who want to build upon their experience participating in community sponsorship and other local welcoming efforts.

Why participate? 🤔 Gain resources and practical knowledge to move local immigrant inclusion and belonging work from individual efforts to a community-wide welcoming infrastructure!

Enroll for free: https://learn.refugeewelcome.org/courses/wa-rwc-training

Recently released research from Upwardly Global and the American Immigration Council shows that “By bolstering fast-growing industries like advanced manufacturing and health care, they are helping create more opportunities for communities and families that have lived in the area for generations,” according to the study.

Immigrants contribute billions to Ohio economy, bolster workforce • Ohio Capital Journal Immigrants have contributed billions of dollars to the Ohio economy over the years, according to a new national study, bolstering fast-growing industries like advanced manufacturing and health care.

Our friends at LAMP are hiring for a bilingual (Spanish) receptionist.

For more detail please write in email with your no and resume.

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with our friends at La Conexion.

Come celebrate with us at the Wood County fairgrounds!

Multilingual Social Night from 6-8 pm tonight will be held in the Large Glass Community Room at Main Library

17 neighbors from 14 countries, spanning 4 continents, are naturalizing today at the new district court, to become our newest U.S. citizens.

The guest speaker, a long naturalized citizen and whose child is now an employee at the U.S. district court, wished the aspiring citizens ‘I hope you have a chance for one of your children to ask you to come and speak at a future naturalization ceremony someday.‘

Many congratulations on achieving this milestone!

This Thursday join us for the last multilingual social night of the year. Light refreshments provided but feel free to bring snacks. We will be meeting outside of the gallery space at Main Library from 6-8pm. Hope to see you there!

Want to practice your language skills? Join us for our last multilingual social night of the year! All ages, languages, and abilities are welcome.

🗣️🌎 Multilingual Social Night 🌎🗣️
(Th) Oct. 17 | 6-8 p.m. | Main Library
https://ow.ly/bT8W50TwnoN

As we celebrate we recognize Olympic diver Vicki Manalo Draves who became the first Asian American woman to win a gold medal in 1948. She was also the first woman to win gold in both diving events that year, the 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform.
Draves was the child of an English immigrant mother and a Filipino father. She overcame poverty, racial prejudice, and wartime disruptions to win the highest honors in her sport.

Thank you to Advisory Committee Chair, Mechelle Zarou, for the informative tour this afternoon of the grounds and art-filled buildings where she wears one of her many other hats, as Chief People Officer. The grounds and surroundings were serene and beautiful. Can you guess where this is?

🔽🔽Check out this story on the efforts of our neighbors in Dayton to welcome everyone, including newcomers to the community. In the story, hear from small and medium sized business owners, longtime residents, local officials, and the immigrants and refugees who have contributed to Dayton's growth.

Congratulations to our colleagues at Welcome Dayton for the coverage.

Without immigrants, America's job growth would have stalled Springfield has become a lightning rod in a pitched battle over immigration. Meanwhile, Dayton has welcomed immigrants for more than a decade, to fill vacant jobs and revitalize old neighborhoods.

Want to practice your language skills? Join us for our last multilingual social night of the year! All ages, languages, and abilities are welcome.

🗣️🌎 Multilingual Social Night 🌎🗣️
(Th) Oct. 17 | 6-8 p.m. | Main Library
https://ow.ly/bT8W50TwnoN

Tomorrow, join national partner Welcoming America, and Over Zero for a webinar to explore how communities can respond to increasing challenges of disinformation and scapegoating, particularly targeting immigrant communities.

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Meeting the Moment: Welcoming in Challenging Times. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Over the last week, Haitian and African immigrants in Springfield and later Dayton, OH, became the targets of dangerous scapegoating and disinformation, along with threats to the communities at large. While such threats, and the underlying tensions that preceded them, are nothing new, these experien...

We are excited to be hiring a HUB Director who will be focused on working with the community in partnership with EscuelaSMART!

For more information or to apply:

https://www.indeed.com/job/hub-director-cf09791f62a75eac

🎉Congratulations to Duaa Mustafa Ali, an instructor in the English for Speakers of Other Languages, and former student in the Owens Community College Aspire program, for recently being named the Outstanding Educator of the Year for the northwest district. She was one of six winners across the state who received an award from the Ohio Department of Higher Education during Ohio Adult Education Week.

www.owens.edu

Check out these animated videos, available in 8 languages, offering ideas on how families can support their children's literacy through activities that celebrate language, culture, and special time together at home! Languages include English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somali, Haitian Creole, and French.

Being Bilingual Is a Superpower: Multilingual Tips to Support Language and Literacy at Home These animated videos, available in 8 languages, offer ideas on how families can support their child's literacy through activities that celebrate language, culture, and special time together at home! This project features the artwork of award-winning illustrator Rafael López.

Toledo is proud to be a Certified Welcoming city—a recognition we earned in 2022 from Welcoming America. As we celebrate Welcoming Week, it’s the perfect time to embrace the contributions our immigrant neighbors bring to our community and neighborhoods. Check out my newsletter to discover ways you can join in the celebrations and stay up to date on all the latest city news. Read more here: https://ow.ly/mhQA50TqSUP

Save the date for a free family picnic with our friends at Water for Ishmael.

See you there!!

📆 Check out a calendar to celebrate 🎉 National with the many local partner organizations bringing thoughtful events and programs to our community.

We hope you stay connected. This week marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month!

Over 20 community members from 16 different countries naturalized to become our newest citizens today. A guest speaker, himself a naturalized citizen, reminded the then aspiring citizens ‘… do not forget your individual journeys that brought you here. Exercise your earned privilege and register to vote before you leave today.’

Join us in congratulating our newly naturalized citizens.

Guess who got their first Toledo Lucas County Public Library cards today? Four newly arrived students attending the The University of Toledo's American Language Institute visited Main Library for the first time and got their library cards. Help us extend a warm welcome to Toledo and Lucas County for our newcomers!

Toledo Helps Ukraine is hosting a viewing of the film "20 Days in Mariupol" on November 11th at 7:00 at the Maumee Indoor Theater. Tickets are $15. We hope you can make it to support such a wonderful organization doing great work.

THU has helped 17 families from Ukraine relocate to the Toledo area, but has over 200 people who still need help. If you have the capacity to do so, please reach out to see how you can support them.

25 community members from 16 different countries became American citizens this morning and we are honored to celebrate this milestone with them.

Tom Hosler, superintendent of Perrysburg School in his opening remarks made the following statements:

“We are a nation of immigrants and we are the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of those who dreamed, who dared to live a better life.

Welcome home … and thank you for the courage and sacrifice to be here today.”

Alona Matchenko, guest speaker and founder of Toledo Helps Ukraine, in her remarks added:

“I encourage you all to not be afraid.

As of today, no one can say you’re not true Americans.

Congratulations and thank you for being here.”

We are getting ready to welcome guests at the MAAMA Research Forum: Mobilizing Arab American Maternal Advocacy, at the Sylvania branch of your Toledo Lucas County Public Library.