Throwback Thursday: 10 years of the City’s Academy for New Americans

Every city has a story. In Bowling Green, that story is spoken in more than 100 languages. It’s heard in classrooms, in small businesses, churches, markets, and around dinner tables where recipes from Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America are passed down with pride. This is a city shaped by courage — and by welcome. This week we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the City of Bowling Green’s Academy for New Americans.

There’s a long history of international communities in Bowling Green. In 1981, Bowling Green established its International Center — a signal that this community would open its doors to the world. In the early 1990s, a refugee resettlement location strengthened that promise. Families arrived seeking safety, opportunity, and a fresh start. They came with hope, and stayed to build.

Today, international community members are not only new neighbors; they are small business owners, entrepreneurs, employers, consumers, taxpayers, and active participants in the governance of this city. They serve on boards, open shops, hire staff, vote, and lead.

And 10 years ago, the City asked an important question: How do we ensure leaders, no matter their first language, have direct access to the systems that shape this community? The answer became the Academy for New Americans.

Each year, about 30 emerging leaders from international neighborhoods commit to months of learning: walking through City Hall and downtown venues, meeting department directors, and building relationships that turn uncertainty into understanding.

For many, government offices and local processes can feel intimidating, or just different from their community’s culture. The academy transforms that experience into something empowering. Participants gain more than information. They gain contact information and confidence in reaching out to their neighbors. They learn how to navigate permits for their businesses, access public safety resources, engage in civic conversations, and advocate for their neighborhoods. They are equipped not just to participate, but to lead.

For its first nine years, the City’s International Communities Liaison division nurtured this vision. Now, with the division’s new shape after combining with the Neighborhoods division, the all-new Community Engagement Division at the City’s Neighborhood and Community Services department is expanding it, growing opportunities, deepening relationships, and ensuring the academy evolves alongside our changing city.

Ten years brought hundreds of graduates, a growing alumni network for support and relationship building, and countless connections. The Academy for New Americans reminds us that belonging is not automatic; it is built. And in Bowling Green, we don’t just welcome the world, we invite it to lead. Academy sessions began last month, and run through early summer. Applications for the next round of academy participants will open next winter.