In ten years, across Iowa, the percentage of foreign-born people living in the state raised from 1.56% to 3.11%, a total of 91,085 people, according to the 2000 census. Within that, the percentage of non-naturalized residents more than doubled.
Iowa communities are changing, and Dr. Mark Grey and Dr. Anne Woodrick of the New Iowans Program are working alongside communities to make those changes for the positive.
Grey and Woodrick are visiting campus March 22 and 23 to introduce and promote the New Iowan Program’s mission, which is designed to aid Iowan communities and businesses in accommodating refugee and immigrant residents of Iowa by giving resources, support and training to organizations, employers and people within the communities.
“This is a unique opportunity for college students in Iowa to think about the situation,” Chaplain Harlan VanOort said about Gray and Woodrick’s visit.
“We need to talk and learn as much as we can about welcoming immigrants from all other nations to this country.”
The New Iowan Program also provides handbooks on welcoming and building respect, occupational training for immigrants, multi-lingual safety flyers and links to resources for both communities and newcomers.
Grey, who received his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, has published handbooks for managers, churches and health care providers on immigration to the Midwest.
Woodrick, doctorate graduate of University of California, San Diego, focuses her research on religion’s function in the development of communities as well as Latino immigrant mobilization in the Midwest.
Their visit to Northwestern is sponsored by the Ronald Nelson Scholars and Artists in Residence Program. For further information on the New Iowan Program, visit their website at http://www.bcs.uni.edu/idm/newiowans/index.html.
