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SISTER CITIES OF
LOUISVILLE started as one of the People
to People programs initiated by President Eisenhower. Louisville's first
sister city was Montpellier. Others followed Mainz, Germany; Tamale,
Ghana; Quito, Ecuador. Perm, Russia and La Plata, Argentina became
sister cities about the same time to bring the total to six. Louisville
hosted Sister Cities International in 1994 and has received attention
for its International Medical Conference and Master Card Youth Soccer
Tournament.
LOUISVILLE
INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL CENTER was begun
by three Sister Cities members who wanted to begin an umbrella
organization for international programs in Louisville. While that goal
was never realized, LICC has become the primary entity which welcomes
international visitors to Louisville, many of whom are sent by the US
State Department, US Aid for International Development and US
Information Agency. LICC has sponsored the Business to Russia Project
locally.
WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL
is a program which seeks to educate communities about international
issues by bringing in speakers and educational programs.
UNITED NATIONS
ASSOCIATION is a program which seeks to
educate about the various programs and issues of the United Nations. Dr.
Lilialyce Akers of the U of L Sociology Department has been one of the
leading local proponents of the association.
WORLD COMMUNITIES OF
LOUISVILLE was begun in 1992 as an effort
to understand the issues confronting immigrants and refugees and to
celebrate the diversity in Louisville. Since its beginning, the group
has met monthly. It is the umbrella organization of ethnic associations
and groups which work with immigrants, refugees and migrants. It fields
a marching unit in each Pegasus Parade. It has published an orientation
Guide to Louisville in several languages.
INTERNATIONAL CENTER
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
primarily works with the international students of U of L.
JEFFERSON COMMUNITY
COLLEGE is currently developing a
multicultural program to help with the growing number of immigrants and
refugees who are attending classes. This is a result of affordable rates
and the effort to provide adult ESL classes and remedial English.
WORLD TRADE CENTER
is a satellite office of the World Trade Center in Lexington and its
primary focus is to help local business develop the capacity for
international trade.
REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT
ORGANIZATIONS IN LOUISVILLE resettle
about 1500 refugees in Louisville each year from the current and past
troubled areas of the world. Each resettlement program receives
$400-$600 per refugee to get them an apartment, furnish it, train the
refugee in English and help them find a job within the first 3-6 months.
There is little or no funding for work with the refugees after the first
6 months.
Catholic Charities Refugee
Resettlement Program is headed by
Becky Jordan and also oversees the federal funding for the other refugee
resettlement programs. That happened when the state of Kentucky decided
that it did not want to be in the business of refugee resettlement and
planned to close the program. Catholic Charities took over the
administration. The program is located in the Catholic Charities office
on south 4th.
Kentucky Refugee Ministries
was started by Donna Craig from her kitchen table and has grown to
include job developers and other staff. It does the resettlement for
Church World Service and the Episcopal Migration Ministries and is
located at Highland Presbyterian Church.
Jewish Family and Vocational
Service, has been resettling
refugees in Louisville since the early 1900s and is the only program
which provides significant post resettlement social services. The
Dutchman's Lane program also includes the model MicroEnterprise
Development Center, which works with refugees and immigrants to provide
a 10 week course in starting a new business. They teach classes at
Americana Community Center as well.
AMERICANA COMMUNITY CENTER
was started in 1992 by a community task force to deal with the growing
tension at the 622 unit Americana Apartments. Catholic Charities had
resettled a number of primarily South East Asians in the complex and the
other residents and surrounding neighborhood were expressing concern.
Since that time the center has developed an impressive array of services
including computer classes, tutoring, ESL programs, and a health clinic.
It is the primary training ground of cross-cultural social work in the
area and is the only entity besides JFVS which provides culturally
sensitive, language assisted post-resettlement social services. Edgardo
Mansilla is the executive director.
JCPS ENGLISH AS
SECOND LANGUAGE PROGRAM has grown to try
to meet the demands placed on it by the students from 60 different
language groups who study in Louisville area schools. Through the Adult
Education Program, they also provide Adult ESL classes. Classes are
taught at Americana Community Center.
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Louisville, Kentucky