Lancaster, United States
Lancaster Welcomes: Embracing Diversity with a Strategic Welcome Plan for Immigrants and Refugees
Summary
Lancaster commits to institutionalize the “Welcoming Plan for the City of Lancaster” through policy, legislation, and programming.
The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became a Welcoming Certified City in 2019 through Welcoming America. The city boasts a 300-year-long history of hospitality and is recognized as "America’s refugee capital" in 2019 for resettling 20 times more refugees per capita than the rest of the nation.
The city completed an intensive evaluation in 2019 and again in 2022 for Welcoming re-certification, involving over 40 partnering organizations. The Welcoming Standard is an extensive roadmap for building welcoming communities guided by the following seven frameworks: Government Leadership, Equitable Access, Civic Engagement, Connected Communities, Education, Economic Development, and Safe Communities.
The city is now developing pathways to institutionalize a Welcoming Plan for the City of Lancaster through policy, legislation, and programming. The Department of Neighborhood Engagement will be charged with the oversight of the Welcoming Standard. In our three-year plan, we aim to operationalize a Welcoming Plan, develop a Welcoming Ordinance, establish an Office of Welcoming and Language Services, and convene and develop a coalition of community partners focused on immigrant and refugee integration.
Impact
Through the Welcoming Standard Plan, the city is able to evaluate progress in the following seven frameworks: Government Leadership, Equitable Access, Civic Engagement, Connected Communities, Education, Economic Development, and Safe Communities. The three-year assessment monitors how the city is growing in these areas or what are the potential opportunities. Important to note the evaluations are conducted by Welcoming America through an audit process.
Lessons learned
- Understanding Political dynamics related to private / public organizations.
- Not minimizing the importance of engaging internal stakeholders.
