Enlarge Dottie Shattuck of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

Posted: April 30th, 2010 Greg Lacour

Charlotte has a wealth of organizations and agencies that serve immigrants (including refugees, asylees, and internationals) but no one place where immigrants can get information about all of them. A group of Crossroads volunteers has decided to put one together. The decision came April 29, at the end of the third “More Than Talk: Immigrants & Community Access” session. The effort began with a November meeting at International House about some of the challenges immigrants face in Charlotte. Last month, Crossroads began a three-part series of meetings to talk in more detail about the problems and arrive at a specific solution in the form of a community initiative. The small group that attended on the 29th was made up mainly of advocates – representatives from the Latin American Coalition, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Mecklenburg County's Department of Social Services, City of Charlotte's Community Relations Committee, Queens University of Charlotte, Crisis Assistance Ministry , and Grassroots Leadership Inc. They quickly focused on the lack of coordination among agencies and organizations as one of their main problems. It’s hard enough for immigrants, especially those who don’t speak English well or at all, to even learn that they can get help, much less where to find it. A great first step, the group agreed, would be a comprehensive catalogue of agencies, organizations and individuals, with contact information and a short summary of the services they provide. “And this city doesn’t have that,” said Anna Carter, an active Habitat for Humanity volunteer. “This is crazy.”

The group, with help from Crossroads consultants Jatrine Bentsi-Enchill and Sylvia Bittle-Patton, decided to use the Crossroads Web site as an initial platform and contact some of the major players in the city to tell them about the project and stress how important it’d be for them and their clients. Eventually, the organizations themselves could maintain the catalogue, updating as information changed, and find good places – or one ideal place – in Charlotte where immigrants could pick up printed copies.

It might be tricky to translate the list into all the languages needed, and it’ll be hard to round up every organization and get them all on board with the plan; the fragmentation that makes the list necessary also makes this kind of endeavor difficult.

But it’s an ideal initiative to have come out of the discussions: Broad enough to make a real contribution, yet focused enough to be achievable. Carter and Luis Matta, an education and outreach coordinator for the city, will begin setting everything up on the Crossroads site shortly.

Crossroads picked a better time than it realized to start such a discussion. Not only are more immigrants settling in our midst every day, but the national political discussion is focusing increasingly on immigrants and the challenges of assimilation – and not always in pretty ways.

Immigration reform is one of the hottest topics in Washington these days, one that’s sure to be a major issue in the Congressional midterms. Arizona’s new immigration law, signed last week, has touched off protests around the country. And a new campaign video by Alabama gubernatorial candidate Tim James reminds us of the political points mainstream politicians can garner with exclusionary rhetoric and policies.

That’s the climate in which this small but critical project is beginning. “That’s good,” Bittle-Patton told the group at meeting’s end. “That’s a good start.”

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