Celebrating diversity
Feb. 24—A group of individuals in the community met in early 2020 to discuss ways to celebrate the diversity in Newton's population.
The group brought together professionals from several different businesses in town to get ideas on how to accomplish this. The initial goal was to create a big celebration event for the people of Newton to participate. After initial discussion, the group realized there was so much more they could do with this. That's how the Newton Diversity Alliance was born.
"We had all kinds of ideas for 2020 with what we wanted to do and then with the way 2020 went down, we kind of took a back seat a little bit," DMACC's Sveta Miller said.
One of the main things the group did last year was create flyers that had information about the COVID-19 pandemic in multiple languages that included contact information. Miller said a nonprofit in Des Moines had created a hotline for people who needed information and didn't speak English or didn't have English as a first language.
"This was our way to kind of spread that message and help people know there's places you can call to get a better understanding," Miller said.
Now in the new year, the Newton Diversity Alliance wants to become more focused on the needs in Newton. So they have created a survey, one for businesses and one for individuals, to gain a better understanding of what people want to see in the community.
"Newton's population is a lot more diverse that I think a lot of people realize it is just by the school at one point said they had 20 different countries represented among the student population ... at the high school level," Miller said.
With the survey, the group hopes to get a sense of any barriers people experience that prevent them from successfully living and working in the community. The Newton Diversity Alliance will address those needs to help bridge those gaps.
"We were hoping to bring awareness about different things and through the survey then get ideas of specific projects that we can tackle to help to make sure that Newton is a welcoming community," Miller said.
Surveys can be completed and submitted through March 1. For individuals wanting to complete the survey, visit https://tinyurl.com/t7nemdqb and for the business form visit https://tinyurl.com/ygxt5nqg.
Miller said some of the initial ideas are to take small steps by installing multilingual directional signs or including translations of events lists for festivals like Newton Fest, so people who speak a different language feel like they can get involved and participate.
Many ideas centered around food, with the chef at DMACC proposing having themed events, dinners or experiences to get others interested in learning about different cultures. Things like food, art and music are attractive ways to bring people of other backgrounds together, and the group wants to create more of those opportunities for the people in Newton.
"Sometimes I feel like to get people interested in other cultures and to be open, instead of being super aggressive, you start out with just some simple things and some comforting things like food and art and music and dance. As we get them interested in that and open to that, then you can start having deeper conversations," Miller said.
The Newton Diversity Alliance is working on launching an official social media presence and is working with high school students to create a unique logo for the group. For now, the group is working to fulfill its mission: "The Newton Diversity Alliance is an organization committed to working directly with the businesses and citizens of Jasper County, Iowa to ensure that every individual feels welcome to live, participate and engage in our community."
The group is always looking to expand its membership. For anyone wanting to get involved, contact Miller at ssmiller5@dmacc.edu.
Contact Pam Pratt at 641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or pampratt@newtondailynews.com
