Council initiative to support trustees from immigrant backgrounds and City Councilors language skills and terminology about decision making process.
Järvenpää City Councilor, Rita Kostama who will be running for the second term in the forthcoming Municipal Elections in June 13th, 2021 has proposed an innitiative to the Järvenpää City Council that will help in integrating Immigrants in Finland. This is the second innitiative coming from the 42-year old persistent and empathetic entrepreneur cum politician. The name of her company is Kirjanpitopalvelu Kostama. She bagged The Refugee Woman of the Year 2016. Aside being a City Councilor, she serves as Parish Councilor of Järvenpää Parish (2018-) and also a member of the representative body of HOK-Elanto (2020
Below is the innitiative that she proposed which was widely accepted
Language is not only a tool for communication but also a tool for integration and social inclusion. Understanding the language of people will certainly unlock many opportunities. There are so many opportunities but language barrier has prevented a lot of immigrants from maximizing them. As an integration expert, through my experience and as a City Councilor of Järvenpää City, I am one of those people who understands what it takes for someone to be fully integrated into society. In my experience, I can say that language is one of the most important things that helps immigrants to integrate and makes them equal members of the society.
”One of the basic values of Järvenpää City is the orientation of residents that is practiced through well-informed and participating citizens. Residents are encouraged to influence in different ways.
Active civic engagement gives rise to new interactive approaches, resulting in a third sector operator, companies, and industry, as well as municipal services, to form a strong community. Through that, the opportunities to be involved and become active members in society improves regardless of a person’s current employment situation and livelihood. In immigrant work, actions are targeted particularly in groups at risk of exclusion, for example stay home moms, the elderly and to those minors who have come to Finland alone as asylum seeker” (Järvenpään kotouttamisohjelma 2018-2021, s. nro28)
For this reason, I present the following initiative:
Järvenpää City should take immediate necessary actions to ensure that city also supports immigrant trustees and city councilors in language skills and terminology about decision making process. This is a very important part in integration, social inclusion, and decision-making process. I am optimistic that this could also increase the participation and influence of immigrants in municipal decision-making.
