June is immigrant heritage month; June 21 world refugee day

June is immigrant heritage month. Communities aroud the country will be lifting up the stories and highlighting the contributions of immigrants in various ways. Note: If you know of additional programming, please let us know in the comments! Several of the celebrations will take place in the fall to permit in-person gatherings, so we can keep updating this thread.

• The I Stand With Immigrants Initiative, powered by FWD.us, leads narrative campaigns that empower immigrants and their allies to share stories and drive action that demonstrate immigration is good for our communities, economy, and country. The I Am An Immigrant campaign encourages all Americans to celebrate the monumental contributions that immigrants have made — and continue to make — every day. Their online campaigns, #ToImmigrantsWithLove, #ImmigrantHeritageMonth, and #CelebrateImmigrants, allow space for immigrants and their allies to share stories demonstrating how immigration benefits our communities, economy, and country. These campaigns provide new avenues for individuals, companies, organizations, and public leaders to take action in support of their immigrant employees, colleagues, constituents, neighbors, and friends. Since June of 2014, Immigrant Heritage Month has given people across the United States an opportunity to annually explore their own heritage and celebrate the shared diversity that forms the unique story of America. In addition to social media, they have t-shirts for sale. #CelebrateImmigrants.
• World Refugee Day is June 21, 2021 on declaration of the UN General Assembly. The International Rescue Committee will celebrate with a live virtual panel discussion with community partners, refugee families. Some suggestions on how to observe the holiday in your own backyard are listed here. Additional actions and events will be listed here.
• Welcoming America will celebrate Welcome Week September 10-19, 2021 under the theme of “Belonging Begins WIth Us.” This is also the name of their signature campaign on immigrant inclusion.
• The National Partnership for New Americans is launching registration to the National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC), the largest gathering of the whole sector supporting America’s immigrants and refugees. It will take place October 3-6, 2021 in Las Vegas and aims “to re-energize and re-double our work toward equity, inclusion and opportunity for all our communities.”

MHC