CLEVELAND — On Wednesday morning, Cuyahoga County’s new Welcome Center officially opened in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood. The ribbon-cutting was attended by city and county leaders and representatives from partner organizations like Global Cleveland and Re:Source Cleveland, as well as a representative from the organization Welcoming America.
The center is designed to connect immigrants, refugees, and those with limited English to services within the county, including housing, school, legal, language, and job resources.
"Imagine tomorrow you had minutes to pack a bag, take your family, and fly to a new country," Re:Source Cleveland Executive Director Patrick Kearns said. "A place you hadn't been before, didn't know anyone there, didn't speak the language, and weren't familiar with the society or the social systems."
County Executive Chris Ronayne says the Welcome Center is meant to address those kinds of barriers and be a "touch point" for those coming into the county to access services.
"Imagine yourself with the shoe on the other foot — you in another country, not knowing the language, not having a job, but knowing that you have the skills and the know how to do something purposeful in the community that you've entered," Ronayne explained. "That's why we want you to drop in this center. We want all of our nonprofit partners to let people know we're here and our staff is here."
Tina Coleman, the county's multiservice coordinator and outreach supervisor with health and human services, says her biggest hope is that people who visit the center feel welcomed and supported.
"There are services in the community, there's a ton of services, but finding your way to those services can be the difficult thing," she noted. "So I think that's really what we're trying to do, is bring the partners here so that they don't have to go and search out the services. They can come to one place and have that connection."
Coleman says the center, located at 4261 Fulton Parkway, will be open starting next week from Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. There will also be specific days at the center catered to different languages or cultural groups.
The Welcome Center's services are free of charge, according to Coleman.
"Typically, we could expect two to 3,000 newcomers with international backgrounds move here," Kearns told 3News. "At least 16% of those are moving from other cities in the U.S. to come here."
On Wednesday, the county also shared its new designation as "Certified Welcoming," awarded by Welcoming America. According to officials, Cuyahoga is the second county and fourth municipality in the state to be awarded this designation.
"We are here to welcome the world to Cuyahoga County; to Cleveland, Ohio; to Northeast Ohio," Ronayne said.