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Improving Immigrant Wellness and Wellbeing

By defining wellness from the perspective of immigrants, we strive to create a safe space where we can learn, support each other, and gain access to the resources and opportunities we need.

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Update on the Fall 2024 Cycle

Dear friends, We hope you had a wonderful summer with your family and friends and are doing well. We apologize for the delay in reaching out. Over the past four years, our team has accomplished so much together, supporting our community in developing the skills needed to integrate socially and economically. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to the Core Team for their commitment and efforts. We also extend our gratitude to all the participants and facilitators who have helped build this strong community founded on trust and collaboration. Beyond being a space to practice English, we’ve created a…

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Let’s Talk Philly! Conversation Circles

Supporting Immigrants Break Barriers and Succeed

Let’s Talk Philly Conversation Circles is an organization made up of immigrants and refugees from diverse countries and cultures working together to improve community wellness and overcome barriers to social and economic integration through building language and leadership skills.

Our mission is to support our members to overcome barriers to professional, personal, social, and economic integration in the United States promoting their retention in the city and sense of independence. 

The organization was initially developed as an action project for community engagement at The Welcoming Center, our primary partner.

Our founders, Karen Cervera Noriega (Mexico) and Yushan Chou (Taiwan) joined efforts in the Spring of 2020 to create a fun and safe space where immigrants could develop their confidence and skills, build relationships, and share resources through a series of conversation circles where groups would meet twice a week, invite guest speakers to present and engage on topics of interest to the participants, and use that conversation to improve their language skills.

Our Team

Rui Luo

Data, documentation, communication

I was born and raised in China, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Information Management and Information Systems….

Coral I. Zayas-Colón

Data, funding, and evaluation

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Education from the University…

Jieun Kim

Planning, blog posts, and storytelling

I am from South Korea. I majored in English Literature and Language, and also double majored in Business administration….

Flor Salgado

Data, social media, blog posts, and storytelling

I am originally from Guerrero, Mexico. I’m a pharmacist with more than six years of experience. I moved to…

Yushan Chou

Co-Founder & Admin Coordinator

I was born and raised in Taiwan where I earned my bachelor’s degree in German Language and Literature. I…

founder's picture

Karen Cervera

Co-Founder & Manager

I moved to the USA 5 years and a half ago. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration,…

Our Supporters

Being in partnership with The Welcoming Center involves mutual support, advice, and direct participation in each other’s decision-making, which allows us to work as close associates. In the same way that Let’s Talk Philly Conversation Circles provides advice and support to The Welcoming Center as members of their Participant Advisory Council, we have in our team two staff members whose role is to help our team think through some of our development strategies.

Maureen Murugi Smith, Kenya

Role: Support storytelling and documentation.
I am a dedicated community developer who is motivated by learning and working together with people from different countries of the world. I have worked in different refugee and immigrant communities In Kenya, Botswana and the US in support of sustainable community solutions. I currently work as the Program Manager for the Immigrant Leadership at the Welcoming Center where I support immigrants and refugees in addressing immigrant barriers to social and economic integration. My role in Let’s Talk Philly is to serve as an advisor and provide support in storytelling and documentation.

Manuel Portillo, Guatemala

Role: Support organizational development.
I have experience working with people from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. I worked as a professional community organizer for many years addressing local issues while promoting immigrant economic and social integration. In my current position as Director of Community Engagement at The Welcoming Center, I work developing innovative approaches to community engagement and building inclusive partnerships. My role in Let’s Talk Philly Conversation Circles is to serve as organizational development adviser and as liaison with The Welcoming Center.

In the Words of Our Participants

Carly
Participant from Vietnam

I have not only improved my English skills in the conversation circle, I’ve learned lots of diversity cultures, new ideas and experience from different people and building friendship. I appreciate Yushan and Leandra for…

Hassene Berkouk
Participant from Algeria

It was very interesting to attend the conversation circle with great people, I learnt a lot and became more confident when I speak English. So thank you so much Yushan and Leandra for your…

Juanny Luz Angelical
Participant from Venezuela

My experience in our conversation circles is totally successful. I feel more confident to speak. I have improved my hearing, I have learned many things about other cultures, about Philly and the USA. Leandra…

Jingyu Yang
Participant from China

As we all know, this is really a hard time for us to meet each other in person. I am so glad to be involved in this online conversation circle. We practice our English…

Alena Shurduk
Participant from Russia

Participating in this project provided me with the great opportunity to practice English and, what is more important, it gave me a chance to meet people from around the world, explore other cultures and…

Carolina Villegas Tabares
Participant from México

I want to share with you my comments about the great experience in the conversation circles. It was very satisfying to be in a conversation club where people from all around the world participate…

Sholeh Arezoumand
Participant from Iran

Fortunately, I was very lucky to attend this circle with my new friend. We learned a lot about other cultures. The most interesting part was when we talked about different customs, habits, idioms of…

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