St. Louis Mosaic Project
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Welcoming America

Welcoming America

Welcoming America is a nonprofit leading a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs, including immigrants. They connect a broad network of nonprofits and local governments and support them in becoming truly welcoming places by providing communities the roadmap they need to create welcoming policies and share new approaches to inclusion to create an environment where everyone can truly thrive

The St. Louis Mosaic Project is a regional initiative within the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and the World Trade Center St. Louis. St. Louis aims to be a cultural mosaic because this community believes that immigrants invigorate our region. We want to share our community with its great neighborhoods, outstanding schools, plus some of the best hospitals and cultural destinations in the world.

We are a proud member of Welcoming America and have created this online hub to showcase the breadth and depth of our region's welcoming spirit and commitment to helping all foreign-born newcomers create a sense of belonging.

St. Louis Mosaic Project

About Welcoming Week

Since 2012, Welcoming Week has served as the annual campaign and celebration led by Welcoming America to showcase the growing movement of communities striving to be more welcoming places for all, including immigrants. The week highlights the many organizations and cities that bring together neighbors of all backgrounds to build strong connections and affirm the importance of welcoming and inclusive places in achieving collective prosperity.

Welcoming Week Events in St. Louis

Sept 10 - 19, 2021

St. Louis is a welcoming region and we're excited about the variety of activities taking place this week! If you'd like to add your event to this hub, please email the name, date and a description, along with an image, to ssierra@worldtradecenter-stl.com. Questions? Call or text 314-749-6004.

Welcoming

Week

Click on the image for details! (new events are being added weekly - check back often!)

Taste of Belonging Cookbook - download

Welcoming America created this cookbook as a tool for meaningful connection. It pairs diverse recipes with activities that invite collaboration on common goal.

Sept. 3 - Dec. 19 SLU MOCRA

Tom Kiefer:
Pertenencias/Belongings Photo Exhibit

In July 2003, fine art photographer Tom Kiefer started working part-time as a janitor and groundskeeper at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility near Ajo, Arizona. In mid-2007, he was given permission to collect food confiscated from migrants and asylum seekers and donate it to a local food pantry. He was deeply moved at finding personal belongings in the trash bins along with the food. These items, necessary for hygiene, comfort and survival, were deemed “non-essential” or “potentially lethal” and seized and discarded by officials. Kiefer began to quietly rescue what items he could, and he resigned from his job in August 2014 to focus on photographing and documenting them in an ongoing project titled El Sueño Americano / The American Dream.

Sept. 4-6 Botanical Garden

Japanese Festival

Celebrating the history, culture, and people of Japan, the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the largest and oldest festivals of its kind in the United States.

Sept. 9, 7-8pm CST, Online

Welcoming Week Kick-Off

Hosted by Iranian actor/comedian Peter Banifaz, the livestream event will feature stories, messages from the Welcoming Network, and performances by Jackie Cox, Cary Morin, the Oakland Interfaith Youth Choir, El Corazon de Mexico, and more!

Standing Drums of Washington University in St. Louis will be a part of this event.

Sept 10-19 Buder Library

The Art of Belonging

An artist showcase of works created by our neighbors from around the world.

Sept. 10-19 Submit Your Immigration Story Online

Arch Arrival: My Immigration Story

In celebration of Welcoming Week, adults 18+ are invited to submit their original stories for inclusion in the St. Louis County Library immigration story collection. The collection will appear in Biblioboard, an online collection of works available to all participating Missouri libraries, available in SLCL’s eMedia collection.

Sept. 10, 9 am Canta y Lee con Ashley

Join us for a virtual Sing and Read with Ashley! Enjoy stories, rhymes, and songs in English and Spanish. Fun for Spanish and non-Spanish speakers.

Sept. 10 - Oct. 3 The Rep Dreaming Zenzile

A musical about South African musical legend legend and activist Miriam Makeba.

Sept. 11, 14, 18 Virtual Event

Is English your second language? Practice your English conversation skills, learn new expressions and improve your pronunciation. It's informal, it's FREE, and newcomers are always welcome.

Sept. 11, 11a-2p, Buder Library

The Art of Belonging: Community Art Project. Help create a work of art to welcome new arrivals to our community.

Sept. 12 Virtual Event

Interfaith Concert "Creating Our Future - Together!"

The 2021 annual Arts & Faith St. Louis Interfaith Concert will premiere September 12, 2021 at 4 p.m. on HEC-TV. After that the concert will be available any time on the Arts & Faith St. Louis YouTube Channel, on the website www.artsfaithstlouis.org and at www.hecmedia.org.

This year's concert features ensembles from many faiths--Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu--along with the Interfaith Youth Chorus comprised of students from fifteen area high schools.

2021 is the tenth anniversary of Arts & Faith St. Louis, an organization dedicated to uniting people of all faiths and cultures through music and art.
This year's event is prerecorded because of Covid concerns. In previous years, the audience has filled the Sheldon Concert Hall for this free, annual concert.

Sept. 13, 12pm, Gateway Region YMCA Corporate Office

Join us for FREE screening of “DAY ONE,” a documentary about the Nahed Chapman Academy (located in St. Louis), that works with students whose families came to the United States as refugees.

Sept. 13, 5:30pm, Collinsville Maryville Troy YMCA

Join us for FREE screening of “DAY ONE,” a documentary about the Nahed Chapman Academy (located in St. Louis), that works with students whose families came to the United States as refugees.

Sept. 14, 10am, Lucas Park

Outdoor Multicultural Storytime: Stories of Everyone

Come join St. Louis Public Library for a fun-filled story time as we read, sing, and celebrate different cultures from around the world! Families will enjoy a mix of stories, songs, and rhymes featuring words and food from some of our favorite places!

Sept. 15 Panel Discussion MO History Museum - Lee Auditorium or Zoom

An open dialogue with local Latino/as and the audience about Latinx identity, cultural perspective, and building up a social space for which to engage in supportive and dynamic conversation.

Sept. 16, 3pm, Lucas Park

Outdoor Multicultural Storytime: Stories for Everyone

Come join St. Louis Public Library for a fun-filled story time as we read, sing, and celebrate different cultures from around the world! Families will enjoy a mix of stories, songs, and rhymes featuring words and food from some of our favorite places!

Sept. 18 - Local Author Jim Merkel ONLINE Buder Library

Merkel will be joined by a multi-generational panel to discuss his book Growing Up St. Louis: Looking Back Through the Decades. Attendees can learn about some of the foreign-born populations that made St. Louis their home over the years, and participate in a Q&A.

Sept. 17, 12-1pm ONLINE

Book launch: Welcome to the U.S.A-You're Hired!

The World Trade Center-St. Louis and the St. Louis Mosaic Project are thrilled to announce the debut of a new international book authored by the St. Louis Mosaic Project’s Executive Director, Betsy Cohen, “Welcome to the U.S.A -You’re Hired!”, A guide for foreign-born people seeking jobs. Written with the knowledge of real-world challenges faced by foreign-born individuals who arrive in the U.S. with few contacts yet wanting to apply their skills and background to find employment in the U.S., this book is a game changer. It is for those newly arrived and those who have been in the workplace but need advice to advance. Please join us for the virtual launch of this timely, important book on Friday, September 17, 2021 from 12-1pm CST, to hear from Betsy and the many expert contributors listed on the flyer whose additional expertise make the book invaluable to the foreign-born job seeker. It is especially exciting that the launch occurs on Citizenship Day and as part of Welcoming Week 2021.

Sept. 18, Central Library

Day One Documentary

DAY ONE follows a group of teenage refugees from war-torn countries who are enrolled at a unique public school for refugees and immigrants-only in St. Louis, MO, where they are guided through an inspirational program of education, healing and trauma intervention by devoted educators, some of whom have chosen to relocate to the inner city to support their students.

Panel discussion will follow after the film showing (1:30 - 3:00pm).

12 pm, 1301 Olive St, St. Louis, MO

Sept. 18, 1 pm Shaw Park-Enterprise Pavilion

Join the Asian American Chamber of Commerce and Missouri Asian-American Bar Association's annual picnic. Enjoy a pig roast, (vegetarian options available), and family-friendly activities and games for kids. Free for meembers of AACC & MAABA, email info@aaccstl.org or maaba.presdient@gmail.com for more information.

Sept. 19 Busch Stadium

Fiestas Cardenales

The Cardinals welcome all members of the Latino and Hispanic community for a cultural celebration. With the purchase of a special Theme Ticket, fans will receive a Cardenales jersey. Plus, a portion of each ticket sold will benefit the Hispanic Education Cultural & Scholarship Foundation. Come early for a pregame event featuring Latin music in the Budweiser Terrace!

Sept. 20, ONLINE EVENT, 6-7 p.m.

Betsy H. Cohen, local author of Welcome to the U.S.A. – You’re Hired! A Guide for Foreign-Born People Seeking American Jobs, will present the collective wisdom from a dozen experts in international job search and career development. Targeted to foreign-born job seekers – whether they be international students, relocated persons, immigrants, or refugees – Betsy will provide recommendations for finding an American job faster and with more confidence. A Q & A session will take place after the presentation.

Registration is required. Login information and link to the event will be provided to registrants on September 19.

Sept. 25 - Dec. 19 Laumeier Sculpture Park

AIDA ŠEHOVIĆ: ŠTO TE NEMA

Bosnian artist, Aida Šehović, uses the mechanism of social engagement to address her own cultural heritage and history.
ŠTO TE NEMA – a nomadic monument to the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which thousands of men and boys were executed

ONGOING The Mural: A celebration of Afro Latinx identity & culture

The present composition created by LatinX Arts Network STL, for this Delmar Location combines elements that are vibrant and celebrate the diversity of this historical tradition in Saint Louis, the Loop Trolley. The composition highlights an Afro Latina young girl, natural elements like a flower and a monarch butterfly representing hope and natural migration.

At the top of the composition a collection of African baskets adorns the background along with draping traditional banners made of paper, known in Mexico as papel picado. It is our wish to blend the historical Loop Trolley and the Gateway Arch with modern and colorful elements in celebration of the diversity of the city.

View the progress at 5875 Delmar Blvd. Artists are normally there M-F from 4-7pm. Completion goal is by the end of September 2021.

WELCOMING WEEK is HERE!

Challenge yourself to get into the welcoming spirit

Are you just as excited for Welcoming Week as we are? You can start participating now! Do your part and complete one or more of the simple challenges below to spread the word and ENTER A CHANCE TO BE FEATURED IN OUR NEWSLETTER!

Challenge #1

Watch Welcoming America's national campaign video and send it to atleast two of your friends

Click here to watch the video

Challenge #2

Visit belongingbeginswithus.org and read or listen to at least one person’s story about #belonging

Challenge #3

Use Welcoming America’s hashtag #belongingbeginswithus in a social media post and don't forget to tag us!

Twitter:@STLMosaic

Facebook:

@STLMosaicProject

Challenge #4

Get the latest news about Welcoming Week 2021 by signing up for Welcoming America’s newsletter.

Newsletter sign up can be found at the bottom of the page here

Challenge #5

Check out this page regularly to see what fun events will be happening in St. Louis during Welcoming Week!

Challenge #6

Visit Welcoming America’s store for some Welcoming Week merchandise! All purchases will support Welcoming America’s work to create communities that are inclusive of all people, including immigrants and refugees.

Check out the store here

Challenge #7

Check out a recipe from "Taste of Belonging" cook book and post a picture of your dish & tag us

Click here to see the Taste of Belonging cook book

Twitter: @STLMosaic

Facebook: @STLMosaicProject

Challenge #8

Invite at least one friend to a Welcoming Week event

Completed one or more of the challenges? Click on the button below for a chance to be featured!

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