Welcoming America: Portrait of a Dreamer

At a time when the immigration debate in the US is at a fever pitch and immigrants are framed by statistics and policy discussions, Welcoming America reveals an online series to spotlight immigrants' journeys to the United States. Welcoming America is a nonprofit that helps communities across the country achieve prosperity by becoming more welcoming toward immigrants and all residents. The films were created by Welcoming Home's San Francisco-based creative agency TBD.
The first film "Portrait of a Dreamer" is the story of Fidencio Fifeld-Perez, an undocumented artist who comes to the US at age seven. Fidencio documents his journey to America though papal picados (Mexican papercutting) made of maps. Through this medium, he completes the iconic George Washington Athenaeum portrait on the dollar bill with a road map from Mexico to the United States. In the second film "United Voices," Natalie Ringsmuth, founder of #unitecloud, shares her vision for uniting a town that is divided by ethnicity, religion, and immigration. In St. Cloud Minnesota, Natalie works with individual immigrants in her community to find common ground through sharing stories that unite rather than divide.