At the National Immigrant Integration Conference 2014 (NIIC 2014), we want you to get a firsthand understanding of our host city, Los Angeles. This year, we're offering Discover L.A. Tours, providing you with the opportunity to get out of the hotel and discover one of five vibrant neighborhoods defined by the immigrant experience in one of America's most dynamic cities.
NIIC participants can choose between a tours of East Los Angeles, South Los Angeles and others. These tours will provide an excellent dose of the cultural context the conference will play out in, and will help inform participants of the issues facing Los Angeles' immigrant communities.
Local community residents and organizations will guide participants through Boyle Heights, South L.A., Little Ethiopia, or Chinatown to reveal examples of immigrant integration and how cultural tourism can serve as a vehicle for economic development. Each neighborhood is facing intense pressures of gentrification. Our tours will offer insights into how local residents, street vendors, small business owners, and artists are working to preserve the spirit and legacy of these historic immigrant communities.
During the mid-twentieth century Boyle Heights was the shared neighborhood of Jewish, Japanese and Mexican immigrant groups. Today, it faces intense pressures from gentrification that are rapidly shifting the culture and racial-ethnic landscape of this historic community. But local residents, artists and musicians are working to preserve the spirit and legacy of the historic immigrant communities of Boyle Heights and East L.A.
Register today and take advantage of this excellent opportunity to visit the people we're helping in their own communities and hear directly from them about their issues!
Photo courtesy of Community Coalition