How Super Bowl city became a modern-day Ellis Island
The nation’s attention will be focused on Houston this weekend as the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons face off in the Super Bowl. The “Bayou City” is the most diverse in the nation, where nearly one in four people in the metro area is foreign-born, and more than 145 languages are spoken.
Yahoo News spoke with many of the city’s immigrants as part of its “Cities Rising: Rebuilding America” series.
“You can find different languages, different types of people, different colors, different sizes,” says Ammi Arevalo, a Houston resident and volunteer at the nonprofit Neighborhood Centers, an organization that assists the city’s low-income, primarily immigrant population with education, job training and financial services. Arevalo picked up the required skills to open her own café.
Angela Blanchard, the president and CEO of Neighborhood Centers, adds, “We exist to keep this region a place of opportunity for everyone.”
Parisa Behzadi, a teacher at the center, says, “When I look at my students, I really want to empower them as global leaders, so a lot of what we do is about their identity, making sure they are proud of where they come from.”
Blanchard says the center “really is putting all the elements together for the neighborhood to be a healthy, whole place for people to make their way to opportunity, and we really see the neighborhood as the launching pad.”
“The thing that draws people to Houston is this idea that ‘if I work hard, it will pay off.’ You’re getting a seat at the table because you’re working hard and contributing something.”
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