Detroit Youth Engage in Dialogue on Diversity and Welcoming Newcomers

On Saturday April 13, Welcoming Michigan joins the JIRAN project of ACCESS and the Skillman Foundation’s Partnership for Youth Initiative in hosting the Fourth Annual JIRAN Youth Dialogue to be held at the ACCESS community center in Dearborn, MI. This youth-led event will bring together thirty young people from the Chadsey Condon, Cody Rouge and Southwest Detroit neighborhoods in an effort to support a cadre of young leaders dedicated to creating welcoming communities and building bridges across culture and ethnicity. Facilitators will lead African-American, Arab-American, Caucasian and Latino youth in discussions on diversity, identity, inclusion, and finding common ground across differences. The Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit will perform their play “Speak for Yourself: Young Detroiters Speak About Race” and engage the audience in conversation about racial stereotypes and experiences of exclusion.

“As young people and the future of the city, we are excited to get together and talk about our differences while having fun,” says Hanan Yahya, a Chadsey Condon resident of Yemeni descent and young adult organizer. “We want this to be a starting point and get young people involved to do more next fall.”

Welcoming Michigan is an immigrant integration initiative that works with local leaders to connect immigrants and longtime residents through activities planned by community members. This is the second year Welcoming Michigan and Partnership for Youth have partnered with JIRAN. The Annual Youth Dialogue was started four years ago by JIRAN (Join In to Revitalize Arab American Neighborhoods), a youth leadership program of ACCESS, the country’s largest Arab American non-profit. Partnership for Youth is a Skillman funded project aimed at strengthening support systems for young people in southwest Detroit. The Fourth Annual JIRAN Youth Dialogue was funded in part by a grant provided by collaboration between the Prevention Network and the Skillman Foundation as a part of their Good Neighborhoods Initiative.   

Welcoming Michigan has been facilitating “Welcoming Committee” meetings in the Chadsey Condon neighborhood of southwest Detroit for over a year where immigrants and native-born residents are engaged in dialogue to foster mutual respect and understanding.

For more information Contact: 

Christine Sauvé 734.845.8695  csauve@lsscm.org

*Welcoming Michigan is a project of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center with support from the Ford Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  To learn more about Welcoming Michigan, please join us at www.WelcomingMichigan.org or find us on Facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/welcomingmichigan