SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Welcoming Week NWA will launch with a community celebration at Springdale High School on Friday, Sept. 13.
Before the official launch, community events for Welcoming Week have already been going on throughout Northwest Arkansas, and they will continue throughout the month of September.
Margot Lemaster, executive director of Engage NWA at the Northwest Arkansas Council said in the last four years, there was so much interest from the community that the events have expanded to the entire month instead of just one week.
"We've seen increased growth and engagement year after year, more and more partners participating, more and more events being listed," she said. "What initially was just a week-long series of events has now expanded to the entire month of September because there's just been so much interest that we couldn't fit at all into one week."
Welcoming Week is part of the international initiative Welcoming America that focuses on celebrating diversity and inclusion in communities.
Lemaster said the community-driven events this month are all about celebrating differences and making everyone feel welcome, no matter who they are or how long they have lived in the area.
"We track to see not only our explosive population growth but also the explosion in diversity that we're seeing with that," Lemaster said. "We really want to bring together the community, all the new people that are moving here, people who have lived here their entire lives. We want to bring everyone together to celebrate what makes this community unique, to celebrate our shared values."
Lemaster said the main themes of Welcoming Week this year are curiosity and engaging the youth.
Doors open at Springdale High School at 8 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, and the community celebration begins at 9 a.m. You can find a list of Welcoming Week NWA events here.
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