Are we really a compassionate community?

"Compassionate Community Proclamation" sounds pretty nice, right? So why did close to 200 angry Des Moines residents pack the City Council chambers on Monday afternoon to protest Mayor Cownie's feel-good sentiment?

The proclamation was just that: a feel-good piece of lipservice without any real value. This was the City Council's only response to our Welcoming City resolution -- which we proposed five months ago!The mayor's announcement did nothing to protect or improve services for immigrant and refugee residents. Our Welcoming City proposal had a number of action items, but the City Council said they were unnecessary.In light of the city's unwillingness to take action, we continue the fight to improve life for immigrants and refugees in Central Iowa. These are our action steps:

1. Each city department needs to participate in a training on interacting with federal immigration agencies or ICE in order to be fully prepared if or when city employees are approached with administrative or judicial warrants.
2. Each city department needs to participate in an interactive cultural competency training in order to understand the needs and differences between the many cultures living in our city.
3. The city needs to analyze their current bilingual or multilingual services then develop and implement a plan to improve those services in order to be more equitable to all residents.
4. The city needs to consider providing Know-Your-Rights trainings to immigrant and refugee residents as part of their continued commitment to community outreach and relationship-building efforts.
5. Finally, join and actively participate in the Welcoming America program. This is a national coalition of cities, businesses, nonprofits, and communities that provides in-depth toolkits, trainings, and resources to groups looking to create more equitable cities.

We'll keep working on this important campaign. Sign up for our Fair Immigration email list to stay up to date on meetings and actions.

JOIN THE FIGHT!

The fact is, we have almost zero foundational support for this kind of work -- so you can play a big part in helping us move forward when you become a member of Iowa CCI or make a donation to our Fair Immigration work.