Group pushes immigrant integration initiative
By Doug Grindle Community Reporter

Marlborough - The Marlborough Community Development Corporation (MCDC) is trying to knit immigrants more closely into the fabric of the city's everyday life.

The group held a planning meeting Nov. 29 in the Marlborough High School library. Eight people attended, and participants said they hoped it would be the start of a much wider effort to draw people together from across Marlborough.

"We are trying to build the beginnings of a multicultural infrastructure," said Chris O'Keeff e, the president of the board of the MCDC. "What we are trying to do it build bridges between people of diff erent backgrounds."

Attendees noted that many sec- tions of the immigrant community feel shut out of city life and there are too few channels to change the situation.

"I have felt for some years the complete absence of mechanisms for connecting newcomers to this city with [those of] us already here," resident Peter Young said.

The group discussed ways of bringing people together. They noted that immigration is a long-standing tradition in Marlborough, and issues of integration have been the same for decades, as waves of immigrants from diff erent countries come to the United States.

"The record plays over and over again," O'Keeff e said.

Members of the group suggested either staging a festival or bringing immigrants together to help design elements of a new park being planned as part of the Assabet River Rail Trail, located on the north side of Marlborough. The park is slated to be built at the Seymour oil site, located near Kelleher Field, where oil storage tanks are being removed to make way for open space.

The group made plans to meet again in coming months to drum up ideas from immigrants that could be integrated into designs for the park.

The group also noted, however, that many immigrants would be difficult to reach. An unknown number of people in Marlborough are undocumented immigrants, and participants said these immigrants often hesitate to come to any organized events, including the Nov. 29 meeting.

"Because of all the furor over people being documented or undocumented, people are afraid to come here," said Mary Carlson, the principal of Marlborough High School.

"None of these people are here," resident Gerri Young said. "I've tried to get our neighbors to come but they're probably afraid."

O'Keefe said he hoped the MCDC's initiative would attract all sections of the immigrant population, both documented and undocumented. But it would have to be a natural process.

"I am not interested in locating people who don't want to be found," he said.

The next meeting is slated for January 2008, and the group said it hopes to attract 15 to 25 people.