Nashville sets the U.S. bar for welcoming immigrants

Good profile on Nashville’s approach to increased diversity, a welcome antidote to so much of the political rhetoric about immigration in the US:

Nashville brands itself as one of America’s most welcoming cities, but had residents made a different choice during a referendum in 2009, it could have been known as something else.

“It was definitely a turning point,” says Tara Lentz, the program director at Conexión Américas, a non-profit organization that helps Latinos.

The referendum asked: should English be the one and only language of the city government, no translations allowed? Those against the idea said it was anti-immigrant and would tarnish the city’s reputation. They breathed a sigh of relief when a majority voted No.

“Nashville made a decision to become a welcoming city at that point,” said Lentz. “It would be crazy now in 2015 to think about Nashville having that kind of referendum — which is great to be able to say six years later.”

A lot of work was done in the last six years to ensure that immigrants not only feel welcome, but are integrated. People who work in immigrant services give credit to Mayor Karl Dean, who has overseen a host of new initiatives to help new arrivals navigate the school system, government services and community centres that offer English lessons.

In a recent interview in his office, Dean said the referendum was a “moment of clarity” about what direction the city was going to go in, and that Nashvillians chose to embrace diversity rather than reject it.

He said he’s personally put so much effort into integrating immigrants because, “It’s just the right thing to do.”

“I do think that great cities, cities that do well, are going to be diverse cities,” Dean says. “Those are the cities that are going to have the energy, the exchange of ideas, different people working together.”

The mayor acknowledged that not everyone agrees with his approach but he thinks there is a solid consensus that Nashville wants to “make people feel like they belong here.”

So, do they?

“No problems at all, everything was very good, very smooth,” said Kamal Hasan, who came to Nashville in 2000 to join the growing Kurdish community, and now owns a grocery store selling food from around the world.

Nashville sets the U.S. bar for welcoming immigrants – World – CBC News.