Rolling out the carpet: Business and community leaders welcome new residents
Minneapolis and St Paul are rolling out the carpet for newcomers to the Twin Cities.
Businesses in the Twin Cities area are hosting various events and get-togethers from the 24th to the 29th September to welcome new residents and help them make meaningful connections. They're calling it the MSP Welcome Week.
The MSP Welcome Week is organized by Greater MSP, a collection of local companies and business leaders looking to promote economic development in the Twin Cities area. The week is populated with events designed to engage with people new to Minnesota and to put them in touch with the local community. These events range from a meal and social hour in Target Field to weekend meetups in Eagan.
"One of our goals in the initiative all year round, not just during this week, is to welcome newcomers to to Minneapolis-St Paul region," said Matt Lewis, the director at Make it. MSP., an initiative within Greater MSP. Events from Make it. MSP. take place all year round, but the Welcome Week consolidates them into a week-long celebration of new blood coming into the Cities.
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Lewis said that the events at Welcome Week are an extension of the hospitality Minnesotans are known for.
"Well, Minnesotans are friendly, welcoming people, but there's also a joke among newcomers that I'm sure people have heard before, right? That Minnesotans will give you directions anywhere except their house, or in some cases their cabin," he said. "Whether that's true or not, what we wanna do is take that intention that people do want to be welcoming and are in many ways, and even accelerate the impact of that by making sure that people feel like they're invited and included."
Lewis also said that these events are designed with continuity in mind: they want new residents to join in on regular activities like going to games at Target Field, visiting the Minnesota History Center or joining community activities.
"We've been doing the events for a couple of years, and so a lot of the types of events that are happening during the week happen year-round, but we wanted to provide an opportunity to kind of bring them together, and hopefully reach new audiences." He said.
He added that ultimately, he wants to connect people via these events, and the feedback he's heard encourages him.
"And a couple people, one shared that at one of these MSP Hello events, she actually met someone who invited her over for easter dinner. And then another gentleman shared that he met somebody at an M-S-P Hello event that actually was working in the career that he was hoping to transition to." He said.
"So we don't mean for all these events to be about business networking, or promising that you're gonna get invited over for a holiday dinner, but when you put people together that are actually looking to make connections, those are the types of things that happen."
The MSP Welcome Week is in full swing until the 29th September. You can find a calendar of events at this website.