History of the Welcome Center

The Welcome Center is an information and referral center and assistance resource for immigrant and other residents of the Faribault and the surrounding area.  Sponsored by the Faribault Diversity Coalition, the Center opened May 5, 2001 to help immigrants connect to needed resources, learn how to manage their own needs, and to facilitate communication for those with limited English.  

Since its opening, the Welcome Center has provided assistance through more than 3,000 client visits, helping immigrants (primarily Spanish-speaking) with communication with social services, job applications, health care needs, assistance with correspondence or phone communication, housing, legal matters, child protection, and various other needs.  For three years, it hosted a multicultural prenatal outreach program to assist immigrant mothers in accessing prenatal care early in their pregnancy.  It also sponsored contract interpreter services for several years until the program was discontinued.  In January 2006, the Somali Community Resettlement Service became a new tenant, partnering with the Welcome Center to provide Somali-language services to community residents.  Other services provided from the Welcome Center include the Rice County Driver License Diversion Program and emergency assistance through the Catholic Charities Rural Emergency Support Fund.  

The Welcome Center has also been a focal point for diversity dialogue efforts of the Coalition.  A "Talking Lunch" series in 2005 and a later "Talking Circles" series in 2006 have brought immigrants and established residents together to learn from one another.  The Coalition's Cannon River Mobile Home Park Bus Shelter project was also directed through the Welcome Center, bringing park residents and community members together in a common effort to improve conditions for the children.

The Center began in response to a challenge by the Faribault's Future Leaders class of 1999-2000, which developed a plan for a multicultural resource center and asked the Coalition to put that plan to work.  The Center has had support from the City of Faribault, which provides the space at a very low rent and has offered grants of $2500 for the last several years to support operations.  The United Way, Rice County Family Services Collaborative, Foldcraft Foundation, Xcel Foundation, El Fondo de Nuestra Comunidad, March of Dimes, and other individual donors have helped along the way, with current support from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of MN for our Healthy Together Project.

In the pictures above are Bob Kell the director of the Welcome Center talking with Theresa who works at the Center. The Welcome Center is located at 24 W. Division Suite B., Faribault, MN 55021.