On Saturday, February 11 I hosted my first community event at the Heartland Café in Rogers Park. The event served as an opening reception for an exhibit featuring the work of young Asian-American artists from the Chicagoland area. It was great to see many people, not only Asian-Americans, appreciate the work produced by this
It was really nice to be a part of a conference call organized by Welcoming-America, our Uniting-America's national partner. It was especially nice to hear from many people located all over the States, who work on the same issues and share many of the same concerns.
On Wednesday, I visited the Swedish American Museum in Andersonville, a neighborhood on Chicago’s North side. Historically, the neighborhood used to be a Swedish enclave, but currently it is a hotspot for young professionals not necessarily of Swedish decent.
On Tuesday evening, I attended my first meeting with a local interfaith group. The group was founded in 1999, when women from Bridgeview’s St. Fabian Catholic Church and Mosque Foundation first came together as an interfaith book discussion group. They meet once a month, alternating between church and mosque locations throughout Bridgeview.
Over the weekend Uniting America Fellow Katherine Rivera hosted a community art event at the Heartland Cafe. The event showcased local art from Asian-American artists. It was a great event that brought folks from all over Chicago together to enjoy local art work.
Following news reports of involvement by anti-immigrant political operatives in at least one majority Latino district, leaders of Illinois’ Latino and immigrant communities are organizing to draw attention to the influence of ultraconservative, anti-immigrant groups in upcoming primary elections.
On February 4th, 2012 the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) had its second Annual Immigration Integration Summit. The summit was also way to launch our AmeriCorps Uniting America Initiative in the form of a volunteer fair that our Uniting America fellows had put together.
On Wednesday morning, our new CEO, Lawrence Benito, along with two Board Members, Ahmed Rehab and Jane Ramsey, gave a very enlightening presentation of ICIRR’s work and political history at the University Church in Hyde Park.
