The New Americans Street Festival

Date:     Saturday, Sept. 22nd
Time:     1-5pm

Location: Eutaw Street, next to the Hilton Baltimore

• 1-2:30pm U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremony
• 2:30pm – 5pm Cultural dance and vocal presentations by local performers

Join us as we kick off NIIC 2012 with the New Americans Festival – the first of its kind! – sponsored by the Maryland Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives (GOCI) and the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. This celebratory festival will draw on the talents of Maryland’s local communities to showcase the diversity of our broader American communities. The festival will begin with an always awe-inspiring U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremony. Then join us for cultural performances by dance and vocal groups from around the State with introductions from the Governor’s Ethnic and Cultural Commissions. This family-friendly event is free and open to the public. Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, County Executive Ike Leggett, and Alexander Sanchez, the chief of staff to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, will welcome you to the diverse city of Baltimore, Maryland.

Click here for more details!

Celebrating the Economic Engine Driven by Refugees and Immigrants

A reception and film screening hosted by LIRS

Date: Saturday, September 22nd
Time: 5:30p to 8:00p
Location: 700 Light St. Baltimore, MD, 21230

Enjoy cocktails and light fare compliments of LIRS along with a screening of the PBS documentary, “America By the Numbers.”  In under 30 minutes this film by Maria Hinojosa powerfully portrays the shifting demographic landscape in a moving account of that shift in the microcosm of Clarkston, GA. Refugee resettlement is depicted as a powerful force for economic renewal. Former refugees demonstrate deep investment in civic engagement and becoming American. Meet a Burmese family, a Somali businessman, an African-American mayor, a conservative white resident, and a tea-party-supporting council woman whose campaign manager is an Obama-supporting Somali woman who wants to be the mayor of Clarkston when she gets her citizenship. It is sure to spark meaningful conversation about immigrant integration.

Located on the Inner Harbor at the corner of Light Street and Hughes Street, the LIRS headquarters is just a short distance from the Hilton and offers spectacular views of the harbor and sports stadiums.

Caring Across Generations’ Panelist Featured Reception

Date:     Sunday, Sept. 23rd, 2012
Time:     5:30pm 6:30pm
Location:    Hilton Baltimore (Plenary Room A)

Caring Across Generations is a campaign to reform long term care by bringing together home care workers, seniors, people living with disabilities, and family caregivers. Immigrants are members of all of these groups but, most centrally, are understood as the future care workforce.  The Caring Across Generations campaign, which explicitly promotes pro-immigrant reforms based on appeals to the common and critical interests of all American families, provides a model pathway forward to successful federal reform. Panelists will share how the different perspectives of these constituencies provide us with an opportunity to model interdependence and proactive change for families across the country.

PANELISTS

• Ai-jen Poo, Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and Co-director, Caring Across Generations
• Antonia Pena, Domesitc Worker Organizer, CASA de Maryland
• Dr. Henry Pacheco, Director of Medicine and Public Health at the National Hispanic Council on Aging
  Robert Espinoza, Senior Director for Public Policy and Communications, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE)
• Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
  

MODERATOR

• Sarita Gupta, Jobs with Justice and Caring Across Generations

Integration on the Chesapeake - Regional Governments Welcome Conferees

Date:    Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012
Time:    6pm to 8pm
Location: Hilton Baltimore (South Foyer)

Local governments spanning the Chesapeake Watershed invite conferees to a casual reception to hear about integration efforts in the host region.  Speakers will include top leaders from Montgomery County, Prince George’s County governments, Washington, D.C., and more.  

Freedom from Fear Awards

Date:       Monday, Sept. 24, 2012
Time:       6:00 pm – 7:00pm
Location:  Hilton Baltimore (Plenary Room A)

Fifteen months after the Freedom from Fear Awards were first announced, all progress toward more humane immigration policies — especially ending the separation of mixed status families— has been driven by ordinary people.  Five winners of the award, who were chosen for their extraordinary acts of courage on behalf of immigrants and refugees, will reflect upon their journeys – both personal and political – and what they have learned about taking risks, connecting with other movements, and holding to the long view. Join us to celebrate with light refreshments from 6:00pm on. The Awards begin at 6:30pm.

Awardees

• Maria Bolaños Hernandez, Maryland community activist
• Gaby Pacheco, Trail of DREAMs
• Juan Rodriguez, Trail of DREAMs
• Felipe Matos, Trail of DREAMs
• Carlos Roa, Trail of DREAMs

Moderator

• Congresswoman Donna Edwards, 4th Congressional District, Maryland