Norwich — Norwich could become the first Connecticut municipality to join a White House initiative called the “Building Welcoming Communities Campaign,” an effort to improve local relations and services for immigrants and refugees.

Nothing in the program or the three tiers of involvement mentions actively seeking to bring refugees from foreign countries to participating cities, Otis officials and Mayor Deberey Hinchey said.

"I think it is a way for us to be a welcoming community," Hinchey said. "Not necessarily that we are going to encourage people to come here, but to be supportive of the people who are here. I especially like that. We need to make sure all the inhabitants of our community feel welcome."

Otis Library officials will ask the City Council on Monday to approve a resolution both supporting the library’s commitment to the campaign and that also “expresses the approval and support of the city of Norwich or the Building Welcoming Communities Campaign.” The council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

Thus far, 48 cities and counties have joined the campaign — none in Connecticut — launched by the White House on Sept. 17 as part of the White House Task Force on New Americans. The campaign fact sheet describes three tiers of participation, and Otis Library Executive Director Robert Farwell said Otis already offers most of the services described in all three tiers, including programs for immigrant residents, promoting English learning, outreach to immigrant groups within the community and encouraging immigrant participation in the community.

In July, the library created the new position of multicultural services coordinator, appointing seven-year veteran reference librarian Bassem Gayed to the position. Gayed learned of the White House initiative through Internet webinars and brought the idea to Farwell, who in turn asked for Hinchey’s support.

Farwell said he was surprised to see that no other Connecticut municipalities have joined the effort.

“We thought because of the discussions currently being aired about immigrants, that this would be a good time to show that Norwich is a progressive community, embracing immigration, like or neighbors in Boston have done,” Farwell said.

Boston was among 40 cities and counties to join the program early in the campaign.

Gayed said when he started looking into the program, he found that Otis or other Norwich entities already are doing many of the recommended actions by participating communities. Otis and Norwich Adult Education have extensive English learning programs. Otis has a “citizenship corner,” with study materials, while Norwich Adult Ed teaches citizenship classes. The library also is a certified passport application processing center.

Library officials also give presentations to various civic and church groups to publicize services for immigrants, Farwell said.

Tier 2 of the program calls for establishing a “multi-sector collaborative” to write a comprehensive plan for expanding opportunities for so-called new Americans. Gayed said sample plans were given to the mayor from other cities from the Welcoming America program, which predates the Welcoming Communities initiative. Gayed said Otis would need help from city government to write a community plan.

Many of the community partnerships described in the tiers also are already in place in Norwich, Farwell said. The library works with Norwich Adult Education and city agencies, and will boost communication with churches. Farwell said another need would be connections with businesses to improve job opportunities for immigrants.

Hinchey said she will ask Farwell to explain the program to the City Council Monday prior to a vote on the resolution. Hinchey emphasized that the outreach mainly addresses services for immigrants already in Norwich, not seeking to bring refugees or new immigrants to the city.

c.bessette@theday.com

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