With 12.4 percent of Roseville residents now foreign-born, the city's Human Rights Commission is partnering with a nonprofit to start a "community conversation on immigrant experiences."
The conversation will start with a free forum at 7 p.m. on Jan. 15 at Roseville City Hall, 2660 Civic Center Road. The inner-ring suburb on St. Paul's northern border is home to immigrants from Mexico, China, Laos, India, Canada and Somalia.
The event will provide an opportunity for immigrants and other Roseville newcomers to share their experiences, as well as to talk about the challenges and opportunities that come with living in the city. The Twin Cities nonprofit Advocates for Human Rights is co-sponsoring the event.
"We define 'welcome' as the ability to live with dignity and fully enjoy basic human rights, and we want all residents and visitors to feel welcome in our community," Wayne Groff, chairman of the Roseville Human Rights Commission, said in a written statement.
The city of 34,700 is becoming increasingly ethnically and racially diverse, according to census data. Its 12.4 percent foreign-born population compares with 7.2 percent for the state as a whole. The city's population is 79.3 percent white, 6.2 percent black, 7.3 percent Asian, 4.6 percent Hispanic and 2.7 percent two or more races.
The Roseville conversation is part of the One Voice Minnesota Monitoring Project, the nonprofit's initiative to "eliminate anti-immigrant bias and build communities in which the human rights of all Minnesotans are respected, protected, and fulfilled."
Registration for the event is requested. E-mail carolyn.curti@ci.roseville.mn.us or call 651-792-7026.
Shannon Prather • 612-673-4804
