Oh for to be in Americana...

On Friday 7th, I got to go out and spend the morning in the South end of the city at the Americana Community Center. Founder and director Eduardo Mansilla was a fantastic host. Hailing himself from Argentina, he speaks honestly about how he became a "voice" for internationals in Louisville in the late 80s and 90s, but almost before he starts the tour of the building he tells me that he's starting to be too easy and too usual a suspect now and that he's encouraging the diverse voices of newer internationals to stand up and be counted.

Out the back of the building is an organic community allotment. Developed to encourage healthy eating and promote mental health, the garden is also something of a cultural map, showing the diversity of dietary preferences being cultivated by centre users from 79 different countries, or 80 if you include those US born citizens who are increasingly using the centre's resources to develop their skills and attain the GED - the recognised High School equivalency exam.

Eduardo explains the name Americana comes not from the nostalgic evocation of latter day America, but rather the name of the cheap rental apartment block many S Asian immigrants first lived in in the area. An influx that weren't exactly welcomed with open arms. twenty some years in though, and it seems that the international dimension of the neighbourhood is starting to become one of its key strengths, and the centre is quite possibly something unique in Louisville in is cross cultural approach.

English and GED classes are open to refugees and immigrants equally and ensures a good cultural mix in any class. The first wave of Vietnamese migrants to Louisville were in sufficient numbers to hire translators and for services to develop a broad understanding of cultural differences. Now there is a much greater diversity of the countries that refugees come from, and a much greater diversity in their cultural needs and understanding of the US. Recent arrivals that had spent many years and some their whole lives in border or refugee camps, have had a much tougher journey and experienced more challenges to integration. The US system provides support for refugees for the first 90 days only, after which they are expected to be in employment. The Americana centre is therefore a vital lifeline for many new arrivals, and those still navigating the whiplash of culture shock some years in.

But what I most loved about the place which is a constant triumph of optimism over finance, is the approach it has to being a learning organisation. To adapting to new challenges, to trying new ways, and to seemingly never say die despite the many many challenge it operates with. And perhaps most of all, in country and an immigration system that allows only for integration, for Americana seems to be developing an newer American identity that is authentically cosmopolitan. And ever so subversively, it is engaging the city is seeing the image of the 'immigrant' in terms other than content to work minimum wage until the next generation can succeed.