An article titled Participants conclude Salina can be more welcoming of immigrants was posted by the Salina Journal online on March 28, 2018. The article describes a deliberative forum that was held to help the Salina, Kansas community talk about immigration. The forum was sponsored by TALK Salina and information from the forum will contribute toward a national report that will be prepared by the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI).

The forum was held at the Salina area Chamber of Commerce annex.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

The discussion kicked off with four immigrants and an immigration attorney discussing their journey to the United States and what they deal with daily.

“This is a complex issue and that’s what TALK Salina is all about — bringing people together to have a discussion about these complex issues,” said Greg Stephens, one of the organizers. “When I started putting this together, I noticed that Salina has a lot of immigrants.”

During the event, people separated into five groups to discuss three options for dealing with immigration.

A facilitator was assigned to each group to take notes and create a report. The reports will be shared during next year’s A Public Voice event in Washington, D.C.

For more information about this work, contact Greg Stephens at gregs@ksu.edu.