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Posted: December 8th, 2011 Lashawnda Becoats

Inside Northwest School of the Arts on Dec. 3, Anish Bhatt of Queen City Bhangra Academy played the drums as a welcome to the finale for Many Cultures One Community.

Many Cultures One Community was a 30-day series of community-wide events and workshops to build trust across ethnic, racial and cultural differences. The Dec. 3 event drew about 175 people from organizations such as Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center as well as local service providers and community members.

During the event Crossroads Charlotte and Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary-care Research (MAPPR) unveiled The Mecklenburg Access Portal (The MAP). The MAP is a web-based resource directory for healthcare and social service providers to access information and resources. The portal will link the IRAI (Immigrant, Refugee, Asylee and International) communities to much needed services and link service providers to underserved populations.

The finale event was an opportunity to expose the IRAI’s to the MAP as well as the leaders and the effort to integrate them into Charlotte community.

Panel discussions included were “Increasing Access and Opportunities and Leveraging Untapped Community Assets” and “How Charlotte’s ‘new majority’ is Transforming its Social, Civic, Political and Economic Landscapes.”

“We need to let them know their own strength,” said panelist Nimish Bhatt of Carolina Asian Chamber of Commerce. “They are not victims they are one of us. We need to accept them into the community.”

Cultural performances and interactive activities were secheduled throughout the day featuring poetry, art and dance for children. During Criss Cross Mangosauce, children jumped and twirled around as they did the “Hokey Pokey” and listened to the song “This Little Light of Mine” in both English and Spanish.

Kimberly Edmonds, a Charlotte resident, admits she didn’t realize that Charlotte had so many different types of refugees. She came to the event to show her support and to learn more about the needs of the IRAI community.

“Being apart of this event really opens up the door for us to be there for one another in whatever way we can,” she said. “Being here has allowed me to be more sensitive to the human race as a whole.”

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