North Huntingdon church sponsors program to welcome immigrants

An effort to make immigrants welcome in the Norwin community where they are a distinct minority is being launched by a North Huntingdon church.

“We want them to see what’s best about this community. We want them to stay here and raise their families here,” said Pastor Nick Poole, lead pastor of Calvary Church.

The church is sponsoring the program for immigrants, “Let’s Speak English,” from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Norwin Public Library, Caruthers Lane, Irwin. Poole said he hopes it is the first of several programs in an outreach to the community of immigrants.

Poole said he sees the program as an opportunity for participants to learn conversational English and that he hopes immigrants from along the Route 30 corridor, from North Versailles to Jeannette, will take advantage of it.

The program, he said, will give participants a chance to meet with other immigrants and learn about the resources — such as health care providers and government resources — that are available.

“Our feeling is that we can support the diversity and make them feel welcome in the community,” Poole said.

The church is planning a session on April 19 to train people to become family advocates for immigrants “to help them find their way in the community,” doing the normal things that longtime residents take for granted, Poole said.

Immigrants in Westmoreland County represent only 1.6% of the county’s population of 352,000, or roughly about 5,600 people, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Of North Huntingdon’s 31,500 residents counted in the 2020 census, only about 500 are immigrants, according to the 2020 Census. Irwin Borough has about 430 immigrants among its 3,900 residents, most of whom came from Europe, according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.

The percentage of foreign-born people is higher in Allegheny County, where the Census Bureau found about 6.1% of the county’s 1.23 million people, or about 75,200 people, are immigrants.

The City of Pittsburgh created the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs in 2021, to help connect immigrants and refugees with resources and benefits offered throughout city, county, state and federal government and private organizations.

In 2014, former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto launched an immigrant, refugee and asylum integration strategy, Welcoming Pittsburgh, which was a partnership committed to working to ensure a more livable city for all residents.