The Languages and Learning Center (LLC) supports the individual literacy and learning goals of Philadelphia adults, including resources for Adult Basic Education, language learning, and digital literacy. 

This guest blog post is from one of the LLC’s community partners, I Belong, which is a volunteer group dedicated to serving communities in the Greater Philadelphia area. Their mission is to raise the voices of immigrants and facilitate immigrant integration to make Philadelphia a better and more welcoming city.

by Silvia Roldan / I Belong group  

I Belong is a group of immigrants coming together with different backgrounds, experiences, and skills which make us a strong and diverse group. We want to make a positive impact in the immigrant community through organizing events, creating projects and programs related to community engagement, celebrating immigrant cultures, and breaking barriers that hold people back from achieving success. 

During the COVID-19 outbreak, I Belong took the initiative of offering a virtual conference called "Facing COVID-19 with Wellness and Resilience" in May of 2020. The objective of this conference was to collect and disseminate relevant information from nonprofit organizations and professionals related to mental health conditions, and techniques and exercises that can help members of the community facing the hardships of COVID-19. Our group drove engagement within the community via a fanzine (translated into 5 languages) designed to boost immigrant physical, mental, and social well-being. Learn more about the fanzine and access the resource in English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Portuguese!

If you have a desire to get more involved in our local community and would like to volunteer, please visit www.ibelongphilly.org for more details on how you can volunteer time or meet with us.  Our greatest resource is our volunteers, so we invite you to join our mission of creating opportunities, encouraging dialogue, building relationships, networking, appreciating culture, and making a better life for immigrants in the United States of America. You can also visit our Instagram account and Facebook page!

For more resources for immigrants and refugees living in Philadelphia, visit the Free Library's resource page for New Americans.