City of Portland, OR

09/11/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/11/2025 12:11

Welcoming Week 2025 is here! Celebrate Portland’s immigrant and refugee communities from Sept. 12 to 21.

News Article
The City of Portland will be joined by many community organizers in Portland to rejoin hundreds of cities around the world to participate in Welcoming Week from Sept. 12 to 21, 2025. Join us for the opening ceremony.
Published
September 11, 2025 10:15 am

What:

The City of Portland invites you and members of the media to the opening ceremony of Welcoming Week, kicking off nine days of community-led events that celebrate immigrant and refugee communities in Portland. More event details are listed below.

Portland is one of hundreds of communities worldwide to annually host Welcoming Week, in which organizations and communities bring together neighbors of all backgrounds to build communities of belonging. Communities who participate in Welcoming Week affirm the importance of inclusive communities in achieving collective prosperity.

For details about the other Welcoming Week events and programs planned in Portland, go to portland.gov/civic/welcoming-week-2025.

When:
Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, from 9:50 to 11 a.m.

Where:
Join us for the livestream event. Event links are listed below.

*For security and venue capacity limitations the opening event is livestreamed. Media wishing to participate at the event in-person require a RSVP. See RSVP details below.

Who:

  • Mayor Keith Wilson
  • New Portlanders Policy Commissioner Co-Chair Martiza Kritz
  • Oregon Senator Kayse Jama
  • City of Portland Councilor Sameer Kanal

Visual Opportunities:

  • Dance performance by Josephine Namuddu to open the event
  • Musical Performance by Inna Kovtun to close the event
  • Group photo of community and elected leaders after the event

Why:
City and State of Oregon officials will speak about the importance of Oregon's immigrant and refugee community - a topic of high interest to Portlanders.

This opening event kicks off a series of programs scheduled from Sept. 12 to 21, 2025.

Event logistics and additional resources:

Please consider joining us in-person for this event. You can also view it live online.

  • English livestream: Welcoming Week Opening Ceremony (English livestream on 09/12/25 at 10 a.m.)
  • Spanishlivestream: Inicio de la semana de bienvenida (transmisión en vivo el 12/09/2025 a las 10 a.m.)

The links will also record the whole ceremony. Please refer to the YouTube links above.

To view the schedule of additional community-led Welcoming Week events, please visit: portland.gov/civic/welcoming-week-2025.

RSVP requested for media:
Please RSVP by 8 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 12 to [email protected].

City of Portland, OR published this content on September 11, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on September 11, 2025 at 18:11 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]