Welcoming Fort Wayne Steering Committee Overview

As a part of the Gateways for Growth program, Our Welcoming Fort Wayne Core Team and this steering committee created a 3-5-year Strategic Plan. This work took place between July and December 2023, and culminated in the launch of the Welcoming Fort Wayne Plan in January 2024.

The Core Team and steering committee will continue this work by implementing the recommendations in the Welcoming Fort Wayne Plan through hands-on participation and proactive execution of the outlined strategies.

    1. Demonstrate the cultural, social, and economic importance of the immigrant and refugee community to Fort Wayne.

    2. Inspire the creation of a welcoming, engaging, and equitable community for immigrants and refugees.

    3. Align interests of the immigrant and refugee community and civic leadership.

    • The goal of the steering committee will be best achieved by relationships characterized by mutual trust, responsiveness, flexibility, and open communication.

    • Commit to expending the time, energy, and organizational resources necessary to carry out the goals of the group.

    • Be prepared to listen intently to the concerns of others and identify the interests represented.

    • Ask questions and seek clarification to ensure they fully understand others’ interests, concerns, and comments.

    • Regard disagreements as problems to be solved rather than battles to be won.

    • Be prepared to “think outside the box” and develop creative solutions to address the many interests that will be raised throughout deliberations.

  • Are you sensing a curiosity about Welcoming Fort Wayne? We anticipate questions as more people get involved. These talking points below provide a starting point, but you are invited to dig deeper. Contact Keiara Carr at kcarr@amanifamilyservices.org to answer your questions or share more details about the plan. 

    Welcoming Fort Wayne vs. Sanctuary City:

    • State the distinction clearly: Welcoming Fort Wayne does not indicate that Fort Wayne is a sanctuary city. Indiana is not a mandated sanctuary state. 

    • Focus of Welcoming Fort Wayne: The Welcoming Fort Wayne plan focuses on supporting existing Fort Wayne residents who identify as immigrants and refugees.

    Collaborative Effort of Community:

    • Goal of Collaboration:  The aim of the Welcoming Fort Wayne Plan is to create collaborative strategies that make it easier for immigrants and refugees to feel they belong in Fort Wayne.

    • Engaging Stakeholders: The plan involves a diverse group of leaders, including representatives from law enforcement, education, the city government, economic development and our non-profit community.

    Fort Wayne's Immigrant Population: A Strength

    • Growth and Contribution: Fort Wayne's immigrant population is flourishing! Thanks to the data gathered through the Gateways for Growth initiative, we now know immigrants have contributed to a significant 24% of our total population growth.

    • Economic Impact: These new residents aren't just adding numbers, they're driving economic prosperity. Immigrants in Fort Wayne contribute a substantial $99.1 million to federal taxes and $61.8 million in state and local taxes annually.

    • Investing in the Future: The data shows immigrants aren't just passing through—over 80% have resided here for more than five years, with many families calling Fort Wayne home for over a decade. They're investing in our workforce, raising their children here, and becoming long-term residents.

 

Presented By

 

Celebrating the Wins

“Success is rarely the result of one swell swoop, but more often the culmination of many, many small victories. ”
— Joseph M. Marshall III

  • 2025 Q1

    2024 Q4

    • Sheriff Troy Hershberger provided a statement to WFW (10/2/24) stating that it is not the responsibility of ACSD to detain or deport undocumented immigrants.

    • Allen County Public Library (ACPL) hired a Bilingual Program Specialist to support programming for non-English speaking library users.

    • The Parkview Community Health Needs Assessment Survey was made available in English, Spanish, Burmese, and Karen.

    2024 Q3

    • Indiana 211 hosted a town hall event with a strong focus on language access.

    • Jewish and Palestinian community members along with allies gathered at PFW Geo Garden for a Vigil for Gaza. This interfaith and multicultural event seeks to bring awareness to the community from a non-political lens and speak about the need for compassion and peace.

    2024 Q2

    • Downtown Fort Wayne hosted their first Anthis English as a Second Language (ESL) volunteer group. The ESL team participated in a community neighborhood cleanup event.

    2024 Q1

    • The Refugee Health Collaborative was developed to help Burmese refugees meet their needs for physical and mental health services, case management, transportation, healthy food, job training, and housing.

  • 2025 Q1

    • Amani Family Services opened the Naturalization and Legal Assistance (NALA) program to the public on February 20, 2025. The program provides legal services and community education to individuals and employers.

    • Local Latino, including several WFW steering committee members, have launched The Latino Leadership Pipeline, a pilot leadership training program to help prepare Latino community members for serving on non-profit boards. The group received 34 applications for the first planned workshop, which will take place on March 15, 2025.

    2024 Q4

    • Allen County appointed Public Information Officer (PIO) Emily Almodovar to represent local county government on the WFW core partners committee and the Welcoming Certification project.

    • Allen County Health Department successfully launched a translation app to support frontline staff in communicating with the local immigrant/refugee community. In an October 2024 interdepartmental staff meeting, department heads discussed the possibility of replicating this in other public facing county departments.

    2024 Q3

    • The City of Fort Wayne’s Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services (OHNS) now requires nonprofits applying for federal funding to submit evidence of language access plans.

  • 2025 Q1

    • An organization called Projection Hub recently hired a Spanish speaker due to a need for support on financial projections for Spanish speaking clients.

    • Several subcommittee members have teamed up to provide Spanish language programming on entrepreneurship, with plans to take this model to surrounding counties.

    • The Economic Development subcommittee meeting reconvened in January with several new members. Goals for 2025 include creating an app platform to house the WFW asset map and hosting a bilingual job fair.

    • Greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber and the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC) partnered for a Spanish-language workshop on how to set up a business in the U.S., led by WFW Steering Committee member Flora Barron.

    2024 Q4

    • Amani Family Services and Greater Fort Wayne met with NEIN Works to discuss immigrant inclusion in their WorkOne services.

    2024 Q3

    • The NIIC demonstrated their dedication to this priority area by agreeing to serve as an “anchor” for the Economic Development subcommittee.

    • Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC) recruited 10 immigrant entrepreneurs to serve on an advisory committee, with plans to begin meeting after the summer.

    • Amani met with the Entrepreneur Support Organization (ESO) Collab group hosted by NIIC to discuss immigrant inclusion in their programs.

    • Amani met with the Ecosystem Navigator for the Indiana Economic Development Center (IEDC) and Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to discuss immigrant inclusion in their support services.

    • ACPL won a grant that will fund expansion of their Maker Labs, offering more access to workshops, software, 3D printers, vinyl craftwork, and other entrepreneurship support in their downtown and southwest branches.

  • 2025 Q2

    2025 Q1

    2024 Q4

    • The Hispanic Leadership Coalition of Northeast Indiana (HLCNI) board approved a plan to develop a series of workshops in 2025 to support immigrant and refugee students in accessing financial aid for higher education.

    • Amani Family Services facilitated cultural competency training for faculty and staff at East Allen University, part of the East Allen County School District (EACS).

    • Fort Wayne Community Schools (FWCS) added Haitian Creole and Pashto to the list of languages available on their website.

    2024 Q3

    • The Fort Wayne Community Schools (FWCS) English Language Learners (ELL) program launched a comprehensive tool for lesson planning and professional development based on WIDA standards. The WIDA consortium develops and provides tools and support to help multilingual learners and their educators.

    • Purdue Fort Wayne (PFW) faculty visited Daffodil University in Bangladesh to present on best practices in innovative higher education. The ongoing collaboration between PFW and Daffodil showcases Allen County talent at an international level.

 

implementation

 

Download the Welcoming Fort Wayne Plan and Impact Data

Join us as we collaborate with civic and community leaders to decrease social, cultural, and economic barriers and maximize the potential of all Fort Wayne / Allen County residents.

Read the plan to learn more about recommendations in four priority areas: 1) Connected Communities and Public Safety, 2) Civic Engagement, 3) Economic Development, and 4) Education.

 

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"Amani" :  peace (Kiswahili), aspirations or wishes (Arabic)

Amani Family Services is a 501(c)(3) organization. Services funded by Amani are provided to all persons without regard to age, gender, race, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, immigration status, or any other barriers to participation.
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