Immigrants and community building.... with Rachel Perić

Have you ever wondered how growing up with grandparents who were Holocaust survivors might shape one's worldview? In our latest conversation, we sit down with Rachel Peric, the dynamic executive director of Welcoming America, to explore this very question. Rachel shares her deeply personal journey and how her unique upbringing painted her perception of diversity, inclusion, and the importance of storytelling. This powerful narrative forms the backdrop of Rachel's work with Welcoming America, a forward-thinking organization that champions immigrants, cultivating a sense of belonging within communities.

As we journey through the episode, we discuss the intriguing concept of Welcoming Infrastructure. This approach serves as a crucial support system bolstering communities during times of crisis, fostering trust, and nurturing connections with immigrant populations. We also explore how grassroots democracy can construct a world where everyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or ability, feels safe, can care for their families, and support their neighbors. Our discussion emphasizes the role community leaders play in forming inviting and inclusive communities and underscores the power each individual holds to initiate change. If you're intrigued by the dynamics of immigration, community building, and the transformative power of storytelling, this episode is a treasure trove of inspiration, insight, and hope.

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Combining a big picture, balanced approach with real-world experience, we help organisations understand their diversity and inclusion shortcomings – and identify practical, measurable actions to move them forward.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to a dog call diversity, and this week I have a very special guest. Her name is Rachel Perrick and she's the executive director of welcoming America. Welcome, rachel, great to have you here.

Speaker 2: 0:16

Yeah, I'm so glad to be here, lisa. Thank you, there's a lot of welcoming there.

Speaker 1: 0:24

It is appropriate and I'm really looking forward to learning a bit more about welcoming America and the work you do internationally. But I wanted to start with a bit about you and I guess you're growing up and your family, because you have such an interesting story, and I wondered if you would tell us a bit about that.

Speaker 2: 0:47

Yeah, I'm very happy to, and I just want to say I'm really thrilled to be here and I love what you're doing with this podcast and I think part of how much it's centered around stories and the power of stories.

Speaker 2: 1:01

We all love stories, don't we? We love stories through stories and we evolve through stories and it's what makes us human and connects us. And I think, just to say you know, my own personal story is rooted so much in the story of my grandparents, whose stories I grew up with. They were both survivors from Eastern Europe who made their way to the United States with my mother as a baby in the late 1940s, and their, their stories really colored my experience growing up and this sort of quest to understand how a society could fall into that kind of scapegoating and othering and dehumanization in a way that led to genocide and really starting to connect the dots between those ideas and what I was seeing around me growing up, which was my friends in a place where you know there was a fair amount of racial and ethnic diversity in the immigrant community, and the experiences that they were having, you know, being scapegoated and blamed for things that you know had nothing to do with them or their identity.

Speaker 2: 2:13

And, of course, you know my, my family, came to the United States in the late 1940s, which was a time when you know if you were a Jewish person in New York City, which was, you know who they were. It was a time when, you know, you could have some upward mobility and some sense of mobility and at the same time, there were a lot of parts of this country where Jews didn't belong and, of course, many other Americans didn't belong either. You know, it was the height of Jim Brown era, and so all of these contrasts we hold in our American story and and also in my own story, yeah, how did I always think our grandparents have such an impact on our lives, but very different from our parents?

Speaker 1: 2:59

And so when I, you know, I think about my grandmother and the impact she had on me, it's, you know, the for me, it's the things I love to do in my spare time that she had a big impact on. But what was, what was the impact of of your grandparents on you growing up?

Speaker 2: 3:20

Well, I love that. I think there's kind of like an intimacy and thinking about you know, you're the way you spend time with your family and for me, I think especially of my grandmother. We spent a lot of time in her kitchen. She was a prolific cook and baker, so I spent a lot of time sitting at a kitchen table and, you know, watching her make things and smelling you know, the onions and the baking, all these wonderful smells and and listening to her tell her stories, and I think you know that idea.

Speaker 2: 3:54

So my grandmother had a really extraordinary story of survival but she was constantly telling it and telling it in a way that was filled with love and I think you know doing that also in this environment that was so filled with her expression of love, which was cooking, made it safe. And it wasn't until I became, you know, much older that I realized that the like wonderful adventure stories that I was growing up with were really horrifying and I think that, to me, is really the core of it. You know, being able to express the truths that are hard about the world so we can confront them, but doing them with love and affection and care, I think was, you know, one of the great lessons I learned from from my grandmother.

Speaker 1: 4:44

In some ways, I feel like it's no accident that you ended up in a leadership position at an organization that supports immigrants. How did you get to welcoming America? What was the journey that you went on?

Speaker 2: 5:01

Well, it's very funny that I ended up at an organization called welcoming America, because I think of my first encounter as being through a program, actually when I was in high school, called welcoming diversity Wow, and at the time I grew up in the suburbs of Washington DC and at the time there was a lot of tension racial tension and we my high school adopted this program that was a student led effort to to have dialogues about the sort of unspoken conversations that needed to happen around stereotypes and prejudice and racism and xenophobia, and they were very powerful. They allowed us to really talk about a lot of things that were under the surface, to hear each other's stories, and that really inspired me. And then I came back after working.

Speaker 2: 6:03

I started my career working in international development and then came back to work in my home community, actually leading a United Way campaign, and I had a great experience that I realized how much the community was changing Demographically. There was a very fast growing immigrant population and the way that we thought about community development hadn't really kept pace with that. And so you know, I had had this experience of kind of negotiating interpersonal conflict and difference and prejudice, but what I was seeing was how all of that played out, you know, really structurally in the community, whose voice was listened to, whose organization was funded, who had access to it. And I learned a lot from that experience about trying to create the conditions for belonging in a community and ended up then running a community coalition.

Speaker 2: 7:03

That kind of continued that work and then in 2011, I moved to Atlanta for a relationship with my now husband and you know, love, love conquers all things, I guess, and found welcoming America quite by accident, as our founder was getting it off the ground and said this is an amazing mission. That really connects all the dots for me about what communities are capable of doing when they are welcoming. And it's been a labor of love the last 13 years. You know, building, building our work, which is about, again, the power of communities and communities really taking charge of building a culture where every person, including people who are immigrants or migrants or refugees are, are fully able to belong and thrive and be recognized as neighbors. And you know, it's just amazing to see in every corner of the United States and really across the world how people are doing this work and, you know, learning from one another. And that's the goal of our organization of welcoming America is to support the doers so that we can all learn, grow and create a different reality for people, a welcoming reality.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Yeah, what are some of the practical things you do for people and their communities? So you know, I find a new immigrant or a refugee coming into the United States. What kind of services do you provide?

Speaker 2: 8:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:49

So the big vision is that all of us can be at home in the places we call home and belong there, no matter where we've come from.

Speaker 2: 8:58

And then at a practical level, it's about helping communities translate that vision into policy and into a culture, kind of an endemic culture of belonging. So what we do as an organization is support people who are the doers in communities. Sometimes that's folks inside of local government who are looking to make sure that the way local government operates in terms of who its decision makers are, how decisions are informed, the services that it's providing, and making sure those are accessible to people for whom, in our case, english might not be the language of comfort. Or, in some cases, it might be community-based organizations who are trying to create an environment where everyone is supported and served, and we give them tools based on what we've learned collectively in communities about what works, to make sure that across the board whether we're talking about our workforce systems or people's access to language classes or the ability to interact with law enforcement or interact with neighbors that there's a really thoughtful and deliberate effort happening to bring down barriers so that everyone can participate and thrive.

Speaker 1: 10:30

Do you have maybe a story about something that you've implemented that you're really proud of? You know that made a difference for a community.

Speaker 2: 10:41

Well, we use this concept at Welcoming America called Welcoming Infrastructure, and it's really this idea that in a world where people are on the move, there's an infrastructure that communities can build so that as they're changing and as new people are arriving, they're really thoughtful and deliberate about having systems in place that are kind of extending through all these different tentacles of the interactions you would have as a new person to make sure those are equitable.

Speaker 2: 11:14

And a lot of the way that communities build that infrastructure is creating an office within local government focused on welcoming communities, or maybe it's a racial equity office with a focus on making sure that immigrants or people without status are seen as part of that work. And I think one of the things that we saw during COVID that I'm really proud of is that the places that had built that welcoming infrastructure and had created that kind of function within local government were really able to respond from a public health standpoint in a much more robust way. So they already had built relationships with organizations that had deep ties with immigrant community members and they were able to turn to them with a lot of trust already built to say what do you need? How do we make sure this information gets to you. How do we make sure that vaccines get to you?

Speaker 2: 12:13

And that's the kind of thing that you can do in a crisis, but you'll never do as well in a crisis if you haven't built all that infrastructure and trust to begin with, and so it was really life saving and I mean welcoming America and many of our partners globally too were able to step up and get some additional resources to communities and sort of help people learn best practice in real time. But that work was really led by our members, by the folks working in communities, so we're really proud of that and proud of them, yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Could you? I know you're not just based in America, that you have connections all over the world, but how do those networks work?

Speaker 2: 13:02

Yeah, so we know that all over the world, people are moving either because of opportunity or, in many cases, they're refugees or asylum seekers who are looking for a safe place to make a new home. And everywhere that they're moving to are people who are saying how can we make sure that you're able to thrive when you arrive? And that's a beautiful instinct and one that a lot of different organizations are coalescing around. So not only in the US is they're welcoming America, but we also have a sister organization called welcoming Australia in Australia, yay, australia Zealand. We work with the federal government of New Zealand, which has a welcoming communities program of its own. In the UK is the inclusive cities program. Canada, through their federal government, is doing some incredible work and we're starting to work with places like Mexico.

Speaker 2: 14:02

And also, but the hope is really that, you know, all over the world communities are being thoughtful about building welcoming infrastructure because we know that, with climate change, more and more people are going to be on the move or, you know, obviously, a very global economy. People are on the move and, you know, much like the experience that my grandparents had, there are, you know, authoritarian leaders who are looking to. You know, exploit these moments of change, when communities go through demographic change, to scapegoat scapegoat immigrants. They're an easy target for that, and so we need to build a resilience to that and really demonstrate that communities are capable of absorbing new people and thriving on the other side of that and it doesn't have to be this narrative of scarcity, where you know new people arriving or pitted against people who've been there all their lives, are for generations both people can rise up together and be successful.

Speaker 1: 15:11

Hopefully I see even members of my family in Australia who who struggle so much with immigration and and refugees coming in into Australia.

Speaker 1: 15:29

And you know all the white people in Australia, like I am, we were. We were maybe not refugees, but you know we came on boats because we were convicts for a lot of people and then, you know, have come as immigrants over the years after that and I was surprised when people forget that, that, that once your family was in that situation, once your family was moving to a new place and didn't know anything and had no connections, and even even simple things like I know, in Australia refugees can access free English classes, which I think is so cool. And I've had a member of my family say you know that's ridiculous that our taxes are paying for English classes and I'm like but this particular person was a refugee from the Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia, as I think it was known then, and she came as a baby and I'm like you know you had the benefits of those things. So yeah, I get frustrated when people forget that stuff, that that you were helped as well and so maybe you in turn could help other people.

Speaker 2: 16:45

It's so complicated, but really I mean this the origin story of welcoming America was some of the backlash that was happening in places like Tennessee in the United States, where there had been this really rapid demographic shift and people who had lived in the community for generations were saying, well, what about me? Yeah, and you know, I think you know, part of that sense of grievance or anxiety comes from. You know, it's true that new people come into a community where there are pre-existing issues of inequality, of course, and often get blamed for those issues and unless those are acknowledged, I think it's very difficult to kind of layer immigration on top of that. And I think it's also very difficult to you know, to create the conditions for well-being for everyone if those conversations, those dinner conversations are not happening and people aren't humanized.

Speaker 2: 17:58

So the very first welcoming projects that led to welcoming America started in Tennessee and they were really about trying to bring neighbors you know more newly arrived immigrants, longtime residents, together to just break bread with one another, get to know each other as neighbors. They also did some work around just the messages that people were hearing about immigrants. Obviously there was and still is so much just toxic, nasty, you know, dehumanizing rhetoric that's all around us and you sort of aren't even conscious of it because it's just the water that we're swimming in. So to have a counter narrative and to really be able to show the values that we share and reduce some of that fear was then, and still is, really important. And then, you know, they were able to get to a place where we could talk about policies and resources and capacity. But I think for the community to have a sense of agency in that and also to feel welcomed in that was and is really important. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:09

And I often think about this work as being it's not a piece of pie where once all the pieces of pie are gone, it's gone. It's not like that it. You know, by helping someone else, you're not, you're not harming yourself, you're not giving up something that you could have had. You're actually building. You're getting something as well by helping other people. And, you know, I think I was think, if we take this feeling of abundance, that there is enough for all of us and then we can support each other and we can create community, that's a much better headspace and narrative to be in, rather than well, they're getting that and I'm not getting that kind of idea. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:00

Absolutely. Another way for that expressed, our former County executive here in Montgomery County, Maryland, used to talk about building a bigger table and he would say you know, as people are arriving, you know it's the same set of people that have been sitting around the table making decisions for a long time and it's not about placing them, it's about adding to that table and building a bigger table. So, and I think that's, you know, that's the imperative before us and all the research you know from corporate America is very clear about the benefits of diversity and the better decisions you make. And you know the bottom line implications of that. And we have the same, you know research when it comes to closing gaps and racial equity, racial equality. So it's how to get there, and how to get there is moving through, I think, that scarcity feeling, which is natural. So you know, that's the, that's the task before us.

Speaker 1: 21:03

How can I guess? You know you're here talking to me about an incredible organization and in New Zealand I don't, I think since we first spoke, I was invited to participate in the launch of a women's migrant group at a college here in Auckland, which was a very important part of the project, which was such an honor. They have a lot of students that come in from all over Asia to study in New Zealand and you know it's as a young student. It's really really hard and you might not speak English as well as people who live here already. So it was such a beautiful event to go to and we had lots of women sharing their stories of moving to New Zealand and the things they struggled with, but the things that they've really loved about moving, and so I'm really proud to be part of that network for welcoming America and your international networks. You know how can people get involved or you know what do you want people to know about your organization?

Speaker 2: 22:12

First of all, let me say that sounds fabulous. I hope that there is.

Speaker 1: 22:20

It's funny. They invited me and I'm like like I didn't even have to think about it. Of course we'll come, and you want me to talk about my moving countries? Yes, yes, I'm happy to, and I'll come and help you with whatever you want. It was such a beautiful experience, so yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:36

That's wonderful and, you know, yeah, for women's leadership. And you know, I think I mean that whole story and your question about how to get involved are very connected in my mind to the idea of upstanders, which was something that was really implanted in my mind. You know, growing up with Holocaust, stories which you know, at the end of the day, are stories about, you know, the people that caused harm and the people that helped. And I think you know all of us are now in a position to be either bystanders or to be upstanders, and I think you know the way that we can step forward looks really different, you know, depending on what you know position we're in.

Speaker 2: 23:24

So you know, for me, the best way to get involved is to just, you know, do one thing, you know, that is welcoming in the way that you can, in your own organization and your own community, and step forward in a more organized way. One of the things that we have done for more than a decade now is an event called welcoming week. That really came about from some of our members who were saying you know, the stories that we're hearing about immigrants in our communities don't represent what we know to be true and they don't also. And they also don't represent, you know, the people of goodwill in this, in this community, who are standing up in solidarity. So so can we have a moment in time where we're all showing you know that we are welcoming, that we do stand behind this value and do that together, you know, with the big microphone, and that's welcoming week, and it takes place every year in the middle part of September, not only in the United States but also around the world, and last year we had more than 150 events happening globally.

Speaker 2: 24:30

It's something that anyone can participate in. Anyone can host an event, you know, whether you're a company looking to do, you know, something internally for your employees or get involved. You know in your own backyard whether you're an arts organization or thinking about how to use storytelling, and, you know, connecting to the migrant experience a sports club. There's so many ways to express this value of being welcoming and to do it in a way that invites more people into the world that I think we all want, which is a world where all of us can belong, regardless of our identity or where we were born or you know our status and so we deserve that, and all of us can be part of that.

Speaker 1: 25:12

Yeah, how can people learn more about welcoming week and welcome America?

Speaker 2: 25:21

Well, our website at welcoming America is just welcoming Americaorg, and welcoming week is welcoming weekorg.

Speaker 1: 25:32

Easy. It's been so lovely to have you on the podcast, rachel. I would love to maybe a final question to hear about. You know there's lots going on in the world at the moment, lots of terrible things happening All over the world. I could be specific, but, like Is there anything that you're, I guess, optimistic about, that you're looking forward to? Hmm?

Speaker 2: 26:10

I think what makes me optimistic is seeing the way that people with immigrant and refugee backgrounds themselves have stepped forward into the fray to be leaders in communities and, you know, to really renew, for me personally, my faith in the possibility of democracy. I think there's a lot of cynicism and well-earned cynicism right now about what democracy can deliver for people and a lot of forces working to create that. But I think, you know, what I get to see every day is communities that are in evolution saying, you know, democracy is what happens right here in my backyard, to make sure that people have a voice and can participate and that participation and voice are not about, you know, these sort of superficial ideas about identity, but about character and values. And it's just amazing, you know, just in our network, the kind of leadership that I see that's really based in, you know, caring for neighbors and supporting neighbors. And I think, when we get sort of back to the basics, you know that's.

Speaker 2: 27:37

I think that's the world that most of us want to live in, where we're safe or we can take care of our families, where we have a relationship with our neighbors and can support one another. And so, you know, what's hopeful to me is the positive role models of communities and of community leaders who are saying you know, we can create that world in our backyard and have it not be based on our race or, you know, our class or gender, gender identity, ability, you know language, etc. Etc. And you know, I think we may not see that in my lifetime, but I think you know the sense of possibility of communities making themselves places that are welcoming is real. And you know, the more we live into that and the more that we express these values and come back to our shared humanity and the interactions we're having with people, the more we bring about that world.

Speaker 1: 28:42

Yeah, I love that picture you've painted of democracy, because sometimes in the US the outward looking view of democracy is very power driven and very politically driven and the opposite of what you've just described. So, thank you, thank you, rachel. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on the podcast and I just love the work you do. So thank you.

Speaker 2: 29:18

Thank you, Lisa. Thank you for creating this space for so many people. I think that's such a powerful part of what's needed right now. So thank you. It's such a pleasure to talk with you today.