Fostering a welcoming community by providing opportunities to empower individuals and celebrate cultures.

The bridge over a cultural gap runs two directions. Melding many cultures into one community means offering newcomers opportunities for involvement and leadership while providing cultural education and positive cultural interactions to the entire community.

The HHCC Diversity Action Team offers a number of programs and activities to help build the relationships that strengthen a diverse community.

• Celebrations:

  Showcases the traditions of various cultures.

• Community Voices:

  Educates new residents about the community, its organization, government, educational entities and other services.

• Interpreters:

  Assists residents who speak limited English by linking them with interpreters.

• New Iowan Center:

  The Department of Iowa Workforce Development has established New Iowan Centers that offer one-stop services to deal with a variety of issues related to immigration and employment.

• Study Circles:

  Offers community discussion group participants the chance to get to know one another while considering the different points of view and finding common ground for working together.

• Media:

  Provides news and entertainment to area Spanish-speaking residents through El Heraldo Hispano, a Hispanic newspaper, and LaVoz Hispana, a regular radio broadcast in Spanish.

• Lee Town:

  Chronicles the history of the African-American settlement that existed in Mt. Pleasant in the late 1800s.

Working, learning and celebrating together, people of many cultures become one community.