“Imagine for a moment that you are an immigrant to the United States. You hope to make this new country your home, and yet, many of the customs and culture confuse you,” blogs Michelle Burgess of the National League of Cities’ Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration (MAII). You just relocated your family to a new and unfamiliar country. You may or may not speak much of the language or know the customs. You want to integrate into your new community and familiarize yourself with your new city’s programs and services. But how will you access the information and resources you need?

According to a new “best practices” report by Burgess and Ricardo Gambetta of the MAII, “Immigrant Integration: Resource Access and Cultural Exchange,” there are a lot of things community outreach programs can do to help immigrants access important city information, find basic things like health care, jobs, and education, and better engage in community life. The report profiles a number of outreach programs across the country that are helping immigrants to better “connect” with their new communities.

Jennifer Eberbach is a professional journalist and writer. Find contact information on her website www.jenthewriter.info

(Note: Read this press release to find out which community won the Region 1 CEA honor. View photos from this event on flickr)

EASTPOINTE, Michigan - With more than 40 percent of its population born outside the United States, the City of Hamtramck, Michigan, has a very diverse community. With this diversity brings some challenges, but also tremendous opportunity and a positive outlook for the future.

This was the message of Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski during a Michigan Municipal League education seminar Wednesday, May 5, 2010, in Eastpointe, Michigan. The seminar was the first of seven regional meetings the League is having throughout the state this month and next. The meetings will each focus on one of the eight assets identified by the League as making viable communities. The focus of Wednesday’s event was multiculturalism and nearly 40 officials from southeast Michigan attended. It was fitting that the seminar also took place on May 5 – Cinco de Mayo.

"In my one block where I live, we have Bosnians, Polish, Polish Americans, Bangladeshi, African Americans, Ukrainian Americans, and non-differentiated Americans on that one small block," Majewski said. "When you live in a community like this there are many advantages, especially to the children. It also takes us closer to the kind of world we all want to live in and the kind we all eventually will be living in. It's not always easy and fun and it can be a challenge, but it really is a joy. Hamtramck welcomes everyone. The face of Hamtramck is the face of a new kind of America and a kind of America that is closer to all our ideals."

Majewski talked about the many different festivals, unique businesses and restaurants that are in Hamtramck, due in part, to having such a diverse community. Joining Majewski in the multiculturalism discussion was Chandra McMillion, facilitator of the Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust and president of the McMillion Group.

McMillion talked about a venture by police departments in southeast Michigan to work together to break-down ethnic barriers. It was a great discussion and really opened eyes about some of the exciting things happening in our communities. Other topics discussed at the meeting were a presentation by Norma Rivas Ricci about the 2010 U.S. Census; a talk by the League’s Chris Hackbarth about what’s happening in Lansing involving the League’s legislative team; an introduction to the League’s Center for 21^st Century Communities program by the League’s Colleen Layton; information about the environmentally friendly programs by the League’s Sue Jeffers; and a report on the Let’s Save Michigan campaign by Sean Mann.

Southeast Michigan communities represented at the meeting were the cities of Berkley, Center Line, Dearborn, Eastpointe, Garden City, Grosse Pointe Woods, Hamtramck, Howell, Huntington Woods, Inkster, Madison Heights, Monroe, Mount Clemens, New Baltimore, Plymouth, Roseville, Southfield, Sterling Heights, Troy, Utica, Wayne and Utica.

The next regional meeting is May 12-14 in Ispheming. Learn about the other upcoming regional meetings here.

Matt Bach is director communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org or (734) 669-6317.

In this photo Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski (right) and Chandra McMillion talk about multiculturalism. (Read this press release to find out which community won the Region 1 CEA honor. View photos from this event on flickr)

On the eve of president Obama's commencement address to University of Michigan graduates, I am thinking about the little "salad bowl" of personalities and ethnicities that is Ann Arbor. Whether you voted for the president or not, nobody can really discount the fact that his election made a lot of people think harder about who this country really is.

But I am sometimes plagued by a question; How does one go about championing multiculturalism and diversity in a "post-Obama-election" age that everyone is quickly equating to racial politics? What are we really talking about here?

Campaigning politicians like to tell anecdotes about everyday people to get their platforms across to the general public. In that vain, I ventured into the blog-o-sphere and found a woman who is sharing her experiences and expertise on multiculturalism and diversity. Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is “a writer, editor, speaker, multicultural educator, and activist on Asian Pacific American community issues," according to her annarbor.com profile - she is lead multicultural contributor and blogs about "Adventures in Multicultural Living." Wang is also an editor for IMDiversity.com Asian American Village, another online resource for you to peruse. You can also read more from her on her "Multicultural Toolbox" website, and her blog.

Hers is but one voice. My point is not to find somebody to speak for everybody - nor to endorse her individual ideas. I would suggest taking a look at how one single person can contribute to the discussion in an active, engaged way - you can search for others on your own. She will also keep you posted on diversity-related events, announcements about what other people are doing to work towards a better understanding of multiculturalism, and she throws in plenty of anecdotes about her own experience as a second-generation Chinese-American living in our country.