For the fourth year in a row, the City of Burien will celebrate National Welcoming Week, starting this Friday, Sept. 13, and continuing through Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.
Welcoming Week is an initiative of the nonpartisan nonprofit Welcoming America, featuring organizations and communities bringing together neighbors of all backgrounds, including immigrants, to build strong connections and affirm the importance of welcoming and inclusive places in achieving collective prosperity.
The Burien City Council will issue a proclamation declaring Sept. 13-22, 2024 as Welcoming Week in Burien at their meeting on Monday night, Sept. 9, 2024, which starts at 5:30 p.m. in Burien City Council Chambers.
This year’s national Welcoming Week theme is “We’re All In.” Organizers invite everyone to join in and celebrate our immigrant and refugee neighbors by attending the Welcoming Burien event hosted by the City of Burien, in partnership with Discover Burien, in Town Square Park on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. This event is free to the general public and will feature cultural performances and activities, games, arts and crafts, a resource fair, food, and more.
“We consistently hear from new and long-standing community members that Burien’s diversity is one of the qualities that people love most about living here, and the other community asset people cherish is our events,” said Lorraine Chachere, City of Burien Economic Development Specialist and lead organizer of Welcoming Burien. “The Welcoming Burien event allows our residents, businesses, and community organizations to come together so that we can cultivate stronger, more connected, and joyful communities.”
In 2021, Burien became a member of Welcoming America and one of the first cities in the region to have a dedicated event for Welcoming Week.
“With our early membership in the Welcoming America network which reflects Burien’s values and commitment to immigrant inclusion and celebrating the contributions of immigrants to our city—even before Burien officially became a city!—Burien continues to strive to include and welcome immigrants in all areas of civic, social, and economic life in our community,” Chachere added.
The event also gives attendees the opportunity to meet Burien’s Community Connectors who represent those from Spanish, Vietnamese, and Amharic language communities and learn about City services directly from City staff.
“Our Welcoming Burien event truly showcases who we are as a City,” said Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon. “We encourage everyone to come join us and celebrate what makes Burien so special: its people, its vibrancy, its diversity, and its inclusivity.”
Adolfo Bailon talking about Burien’s “inclusivity” is a joke. A sick joke.
Tell us how you can justify feeling that way? Every City sponsored event I have ever attended, or known of has been open to all residents with no restrictions regardless of your ways, means or race etc.
Except homeless people and others struggling with housing.
This Mayor and Manager’s policies are clear, they are not inclusive, and are not moral.
That’s a bit grandiose, anybody on the street can seek help and treatment opportunities, they are consistently offered by a multitude of agencies. There is absolutely no reason to condone or except criminal actions of others and consider them being good neighbors.