Updated on:
Lancaster Welcomes: Embracing Diversity with a Strategic Welcome Plan for Immigrants and Refugees
TENTATIVE DEADLINE OF IMPLEMENTATION:
Lancaster commits to institutionalize the “Welcoming Plan for the City of Lancaster” through policy, legislation, and programming.
The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became a Welcoming Certified City in 2019 through Welcoming America. The city boasts a 300-year-long history of hospitality and is recognized as "America’s refugee capital" in 2019 for resettling 20 times more refugees per capita than the rest of the nation.
The city completed an intensive evaluation in 2019 and again in 2022 for Welcoming re-certification, involving over 40 partnering organizations. The Welcoming Standard is an extensive roadmap for building welcoming communities guided by the following seven frameworks: Government Leadership, Equitable Access, Civic Engagement, Connected Communities, Education, Economic Development, and Safe Communities.
The city is now developing pathways to institutionalize a Welcoming Plan for the City of Lancaster through policy, legislation, and programming. The Department of Neighborhood Engagement will be charged with the oversight of the Welcoming Standard. In our three-year plan, we aim to operationalize a Welcoming Plan, develop a Welcoming Ordinance, establish an Office of Welcoming and Language Services, and convene and develop a coalition of community partners focused on immigrant and refugee integration.
The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became a Welcoming Certified City in 2019 through Welcoming America. The city boasts a 300-year-long history of hospitality and is recognized as "America’s refugee capital" in 2019 for resettling 20 times more refugees per capita than the rest of the nation.
The city completed an intensive evaluation in 2019 and again in 2022 for Welcoming re-certification, involving over 40 partnering organizations. The Welcoming Standard is an extensive roadmap for building welcoming communities guided by the following seven frameworks: Government Leadership, Equitable Access, Civic Engagement, Connected Communities, Education, Economic Development, and Safe Communities.
The city is now developing pathways to institutionalize a Welcoming Plan for the City of Lancaster through policy, legislation, and programming. The Department of Neighborhood Engagement will be charged with the oversight of the Welcoming Standard. In our three-year plan, we aim to operationalize a Welcoming Plan, develop a Welcoming Ordinance, establish an Office of Welcoming and Language Services, and convene and develop a coalition of community partners focused on immigrant and refugee integration.
Pledging entity
Cities, Municipalities, and Local Authority
Type of pledge
Individual (by one state/actor)
Nature of the Pledge
Policy/legal in scope around a given objective of the GCM
Material (e.g. provision of technical assistance or in kind contribution)
State/Actor
The Mayors Mechanism submitting in the name of Lancaster
GCM Guiding Principles
GCM Objectives
7. Address and reduce vulnerabilities in migration
15. Provide access to basic services for migrants
16. Empower migrants and societies to realize full inclusion and social cohesion
23. Strengthen international cooperation and global partnerships for safe, orderly and regular migration
*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
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