Global Cleveland is putting on their fifth annual “Welcoming Week” this week, with the goal of celebrating Cleveland’s international communities, creating a welcoming environment for immigrants, and bringing prosperity to Cleveland.
Joe Cimperman, the president and CEO of Global Cleveland, said Welcoming Week started in 2019 as an event to acknowledge the immigrant communities in Cleveland and work toward prosperity together.
“What we wanted to do was to take a week out of the calendar to recognize the immigrant greatness that is ever present among us,” he said. “But also, to talk about the struggles, to talk about the work that needs to be done.”
The events for the week include meetings with religious international leaders, a naturalization ceremony, a press event with Cleveland city leaders, and a Palestinian community center groundbreaking ceremony. Refugee Response, another Cleveland nonprofit organization, will be giving a tour of Ohio City Farm on Wednesday. (The complete schedule is here.)
Cimperman says the annual goal is to bring the community closer together. Every year, Welcoming Week grows its presence in Northeast Ohio, Cimperman explained.
“It’s really grown into a programming experience where over the course of this week we’ll probably encounter a couple thousand people,” he said. “The whole purpose is to normalize the experience people have with the international [community] because our job ultimately is that other people will take on the work we’re doing.”
A legacy of internationalism
Cimperman grew up in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood of Cleveland surrounded by an international community. “I grew up in a house where English was spoken, but not as much as Slovenian,” he said. “I grew up in a neighborhood where you could hear the Puerto Rican kids speaking Spanish with their moms and dads.”
Cimperman was on Cleveland city council before he became president of Global Cleveland. He’s carried the energy he saw in his own neighborhood growing up into his adulthood. Today, some of those childhood experiences fuel his passion for welcoming immigrants.
“There is an energy that goes through our people of internationalism,” he said. “You see how the city has classified little Arabia, you go to Little Italy, you go to the neighborhood where I grew up, the St. Clair Superior community that is Slovenian, Croatian, and African American.”
Beyond Welcoming Week
Global Cleveland is a nonprofit organization with a goal of growing Northeast Ohio’s economy by connecting international communities of Cleveland with opportunities. Welcoming Week is just one of the many events they hold yearly, helping immigrants call Cleveland home, Cimperman said.
“Immigration is an ever-changing dynamic in this country, and we figure out how we can be most responsive to the international newcomers who are coming to Cleveland,” he said, describing the mission of the organization. “It’s our job to grow the immigrant population in Cleveland and to support every single organization that has a hand in doing that.”
In recent years, Global Cleveland has added Global Rising, a leadership program for young immigrants, according to Cimperman. This program helps these immigrants network in Cleveland. As part of Welcoming Week, Global Cleveland is running a forum with Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb at the downtown public library called “Mayor Bibb’s International Community Forum.” The event, which takes place Thursday from 3-5 p.m. with help from the city, is aimed at helping immigrants connect with local international leaders and politicians.
Global Cleveland also works closely with other international organizations such as Refugee Response, which will be participating in Welcoming Week. Refugee Response is an organization that supports refugees and resettled families in Cleveland. On Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., they will hold a press event and tour at Ohio City Farm featuring Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne, Cuyahoga County council members, and Global Cleveland. Ohio City Farm is a six-acre urban farm near the West Side Market that is run and taken care of by refugees.
Immigrants helping Cleveland
While organizations like Global Cleveland and Refugee Response help Cleveland’s immigrants, these immigrants also help the city of Cleveland prosper, both socially and economically, Cimperman said. Socially, immigrants bring new ideas to Cleveland.
“We have to think about what happens in cities when we get into this concept called thought mixing,” Cimperman explained. “You have these divergent ideals and options coming together for the common good.”
He added that the economy improves, housing vacancy declines, classrooms grow and become more diverse, and companies employ more people when immigrants move to a city.
“Welcoming Week is saying, ‘Let us be who we were born to be.’ We have always been that place that has opened the door to people,” Cimperman said. “Cleveland and Northeast Ohio will be great again when our immigrant population is successful and thriving.”
Find more information about Welcoming Week and how to participate at Welcoming Week 2023 – Global Cleveland.
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