What’s Your Story? 2013 Welcoming Stories Potluck and Screening
Sunday, April 21, 2013, 4:30-7:00pm
Location: Immigrant Movement International
Address: 108-59 Roosevelt Avenue, Queens, NY 11368
Transportation: 7 train to the 103rd and Roosevelt Avenue stop
Free & Open to All, Please RSVP at http://whatsyourstory2013.eventbrite.com

NEW YORK, NY, April 14, 2013—New York City’s 10th Annual Immigrant Heritage Week, organized by NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Immigrant Movement International and First Person American present What’s Your Story? 2013 Welcoming Stories Potluck and Screening—a community event screening 9 short films that explore personal narratives from immigrants about the people who welcomed them and changed their lives forever. Immigrant Movement International, located in Queens, New York, will host What’s Your Story? 2013 Welcoming Stories Potluck and Screening on Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 4:30 PM.

What’s Your Story? 2013 Welcoming Stories Potluck and Screening will start at 4:30 PM with a potluck style “welcoming dinner” where attendees can meet others in the New York community and welcome each other with favorite dishes from their home country.

With the office of Immigrant Movement International serving as the family room, What’s Your Story? 2013 Welcoming Stories Potluck and Screening will show the tremendous impact small acts of kindness had during several immigrants’ lives. The films were created as part of the Welcoming Stories pilot series and the Newcomers High School Welcoming Stories Workshop. What’s Your Story? 2013 Welcoming Stories Potluck and Screening will include Yasmany’s story of discovering his American “swag,” Nika’s story about overcoming the difficulties of the American classroom, and Leila’s escaping an arranged marriage to pursue her own American dream. Attendees will also see how Newcomers High School students transformed from story tellers to activists in the short film Behind the Scenes of Newcomer High School Welcoming Stories.

A local hub for the immigrant community in Queens, New York, Immigrant Movement International will become a stage for storytelling and activism. The event will be an opportunity for the New York community to come together and celebrate its diversity, but it will also give attendees the chance to learn how they can be more welcoming and promote a culture of understanding in their own neighborhoods.

Please RSVP at http://whatsyourstory2013.eventbrite.com

ABOUT FIRST PERSON AMERICAN
First Person American focuses on stories of modern immigrants in the US, and explores what it means to be American through the lens of the immigrant in an expressive, personal and narrative style. First Person American aims to change the public’s perception of immigrants and to interject a new voice through deep and poignant portraits of people who immigrated to America. The mission of First Person American is to have a transformative effect on individual immigrant and non-immigrant lives and communities. First Person American is a recipient of the 2010 Sappi Ideas That Matter Grant, the 2011 Design Ignites Change Grant, the 2012 Facing History and Ourselves Award, and the 2013 Citizens Committee of New York Grant. For more information, please visit www.firstpersonamerican.org, follow us on Twitter@FPAmerican, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/firstpersonamerican.

ABOUT THE 10th ANNUAL IMMIGRANT HERITAGE WEEK
Immigrant Heritage Week is a citywide celebration, organized by NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, that honors the experiences and contributions of the millions of immigrants who have shaped New York City for generations. The 10th Annual Immigrant Heritage Week will be held in New York City from April 17t to April 24 2013. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/nycihw

ABOUT THE 10th ANNUAL IMMIGRANT MOVEMENT INTERNATIONAL
Tania Bruguera’s concept for Immigrant Movement International was inspired by the civil unrest in the suburbs of Paris in 2005 led by immigrants. Immigrant Movement International (IM International) launched in March 2011 in Corona, Queens, New York. Queens is a borough known for its vibrant immigrant population, with more than 45% of the population being foreign born, and with approximately 138 languages spoken. For more information, visit http://immigrant-movement.us

Bloomberg, a grandson of Russian immigrants, established the week to celebrate the experiences and contributions of immigrants to New York City and the vibrant life stories New Yorkers have to tell.

This year, you can visit the StoryCorps booth in Foley Square from April 11-17 to share your story of coming to America. StoryCorps is a national, nonprofit organization with a mission to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.

The StoryCorps interviews will provide a unique opportunity for New Yorkers to tell their stories of immigration, and reflect on their families’ journeys and dreams. StoryCorps will record 48 interviews during immigrant Heritage Week at the Foley Square StoryBooth and at the Queens, Brooklyn and New York Public Libraries. These stories, which aim to help build cross-cultural bridges of communication, understanding, and respect among New Yorkers, will be captured in a Digital Tapestry online to display the diverse history of our City’s residents. To make a booth reservation, call 646-723-7027 and mention “Immigrant Heritage Week”. Don’t miss this opportunity to share your story!

In addition, this year the Immigrant Heritage Week will feature One NYC One Nation, a civic engagement initiative for immigrant New Yorkers intended to improve the relationship between city government and immigrants who are often unaware of city services available to them.The programs will focus on various issues involving civic engagement, such as becoming more invovled with their children’s schools, participating in city-run English study programs, help with opening bank accounts, college readiness seminars and financial literary sessions.

The program also seeks to identify a new wave of leaders in immigrant communities who have ideas for reshaping their neighborhoods to better suit the changing populations. The mayor’s office is teaming up with the Coro New York Leadership Center to offer small grants to 20 immigrants, who will receive leadership training and help in creating community development projects. The hope is to cultivate a group of potential leaders to represent communities whose voices are seldom heard.

What were some things you needed help navigating when you first arrived to the United States?

For more details visit,
Immigrant Heritage Week 2011
One NYC One Nation Initiative
StoryCorps Immigrant Heritage Week

New York City Celebrates the Seventh Annual Immigrant Heritage Week
April 15 – 21, 2010

Declared an official, annual celebration by Mayor Bloomberg in 2004, Immigrant Heritage Week honors the vibrant immigrant cultures, heritages and communities found in every corner of the City.

This year Immigrant Heritage Week is celebrated from April 15 to April 21. Throughout the week, a rich collection of family friendly events, film screenings, art exhibits and walking tours will promote and reflect the diversity of the immigrant communities in our City.