This Welcoming Week, taking place September 8-17, the YMCA of Greater Kansas City will join Welcoming America and hundreds of YMCAs and other organizations nationwide celebrating immigrants’ contributions to communities.

The Y believes our communities are stronger when everyone feels welcome, and we can all work together for the common good.

Welcoming Week shows that in places large and small, rural and urban, people of all backgrounds are coming together to create stronger communities. It is a time to celebrate the shared values that unite us as neighbors, parents and colleagues, and to make our towns more welcoming to newcomers and to everyone who calls our community home.

For more than 160 years, the Y has provided immigrants with support and resources to integrate well and fully participate in American society. The Y has a long history of welcoming and engaging immigrants – from launching the nation’s first English as a Second Language class in 1856 to providing aid to thousands of new arrivals at Ellis and Angel Islands in the early 1900s.

We believed then as we do now, that offering our newest neighbors the support and care to thrive creates stronger, more connected communities for all. With more than 42 million foreign-born individuals living in the United States today, the Y is committed to strengthening community by fostering an environment that encourages successful immigrant integration and social cohesion.

Center Events

• Linwood YMCA/James B. Nutter, Sr. Community Center
  • International flag display; world map and big WELCOME sign for members to sign and represent; cultural dances, music and food for members and the Launch Pad program
• North Kansas City YMCA
  • International flag display, world map at entrance, world dances video on display, information table on English as a Second Language (ESL) class members' countries
  • September 12 — 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Baraza African Cultures | 5:30 p.m. Grupo Atotoniclo Performance: Live traditional Mexican folkloric dance
  • September 13 — 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Taco Truck Day | 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Origami classes
  • September 14 — 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Chinese dances
• Platte County Community Center North
  • September 12-14 — 10 a.m. to noon Taste of the World. We will be doing samples of different foods from around the world provided by our dietician.
• Platte County Community Center South
  • September 13 — 10 a.m. to noon and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Desserts Around the World. Members and staff bring their favorite desserts from their culture to share with everyone. We will have tables set up to also put information about their country and/or culture. 

About Welcoming Week

Welcoming Week is an annual campaign and celebration to showcase the movement of communities striving to be more welcoming places for all, including immigrants. Launched in 2012 by Welcoming America and its members, Welcoming Week provides individuals and communities the opportunity to proclaim welcoming values through events and local initiatives that foster mutual understanding between immigrants and non-immigrants, as well as deeper belonging for all.

About Welcoming America

Welcoming America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs. Through the Welcoming Network, we work to change systems and culture 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. Learn more at welcomingamerica.org.