As part of Welcoming Week, join us at MacFly Fresh for a discussion with Federico Rios (Assistant Director, Office of Equity, Mobility and Immigrant Integration – City of Charlotte) about the challenges immigrants in our community face, what it means to create a Welcoming City, and how we can all play a role.
Celebrate Welcoming Week alongside special guests from the NC Brazilian Arts Project, free live screen printing, and more.
Address and Time:
MacFly Fresh
301 Camp Rd #106, Charlotte, NC 28206
(Camp North End)
Program begins at 6:00 PM.
This program is free to attend. RSVP required- seating is limited!
More About Welcoming Week
Charlotte became a Certified Welcoming City in May 2022. A Welcoming City is a designation by Welcoming America given to cities and counties that have created policies and programs reflecting their commitment to immigrant inclusion. This pathway for inclusion has also been supported by the work of immigrant advocates and organizations. However, challenges of resources reaching communities and economic mobility remain. Charlotte has pledged to improve language access policies, develop workforce opportunities for immigrants, and strengthen connections with community-based organizations. These important steps are essential as Mecklenburg County’s foreign-born population has been growing for decades and currently accounts for more than 15% of residents, per recent census data.
Our Panelist
Federico Rios is an Assistant Director in the City of Charlotte’s Housing and Neighborhood Services Department. Federico helps manage several city initiatives dealing with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Economic Mobility and Immigrant Integration. In his role, he is charged with helping to eliminate systemic barriers. Before joining the city, he spent eight and half years with Communities in Schools Charlotte-Mecklenburg. As the founding Director of the Newcomer Services Program, Federico, in partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, created a case management model to serve newly arrived and often highly traumatized, Central American youth. As the child of an Immigrant mother, Federico has felt a deep sense of calling to his work. His commitment to service is driven by his desire to see all of the members of our community have equitable access to opportunities. Apart from the roles already mentioned, Federico has served the community as a Crisis Intervention Specialist, Qualified Mental Health Professional and educator. He is a former member of the Leading on Opportunity Council and currently serves on Mental Health America’s Policy and Advocacy Committee, the Communities In Schools Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Directors, the Equitable Communities Board of Directors, and as the Vice Chair for the Carolina Migrant Network’s Board of Directors. He is a recipient of La Noticia’s 2018 Excelente Award for Community Service Person of the Year and of the 2020 Cesar Chavez Liderazgo award. His proudest accomplishment is being a husband to his wife Lakisha and father to his two boys, Elias and Jaden.
Wilmarie Medina-Cortés (she/they) is the Exhibitions and Program Manager for the Humanities Action Lab. She oversees the 
Eboné M. Lockett’s Environmental Justice journey began prenatally through the lineage of her melanated skin and unconsciously resurfaced when she witnessed the collapse of her elementary school friend Sandra who died from an asthma attack just feet away from the playground. It never dawned on her then, that the proximity of the neighborhood playground to the neighborhood landfill (just a bridge between and a couple of blocks away) contributed to Sandra’s asthma and ultimately, to her death. Apart from the landfill, the adjacent freeway and the railroad tracks completed the boxed in design of the residential Bellevue Square Housing “Project” where she spent almost a decade of her childhood years resisting a similar fate.
Camille Mays is the Founder and Co-Director of Peace Garden Project MKE. One of her main objectives is to provide trauma-informed care and healing to the community, organizers, and others doing work in the community, especially those who have suffered from gun violence. She provides healing, wellness, and coping tools. Camille has 12 years of community organizing experience, a victim of gun violence, losing her son Darnell to gun violence Nov 2019. She works closely with community members, elected officials, medical professionals, universities, grassroots organizers, and other community stakeholders in areas most impacted by gun violence thru healing justice. 