Making global solidarity local

In an effort to strengthen services for local immigrants, Catholic organizations throughout Ohio are turning to the newcomers' home countries to learn more about their culture and needs. The outreach has helped these ministries to address the challenges immigrants face and to provide services in a culturally appropriate way. This intensified focus on the newcomers' plight began in earnest in 2001, when three northeastern Ohio dioceses created a collaborative to address the social, pastoral, and legal needs of their "new neighbors". The dioceses established a centrally located site to provide a wide range of services; but, early on, the collaborative recognized that access to health care was a particular challenge for the immigrants. Wanting to fully understand the newcomers' origins before developing health care solutions for them, representatives from the collaborative visited countries from which many immigrants migrate to Ohio. The trips were instructive: The visitors not only learned about the cultural idiosyncrasies of each area they visited; they also discovered how church organizations there developed solutions to their own health care access problems. The Ohio collaborative has used this wisdom to tailor its health care offerings to meet the unique needs of area immigrants. The ongoing relationship between Catholic organizations in the United States and those abroad continues to yield valuable insights that benefit the immigrant community.