Gateways/Portales: Interview with Catalina Rodriguez-Lima

Catalina Rodriguez-Lima, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs (MIMA) in Baltimore City, talked about her family and growing up in Cuenca, Ecuador; her experience learning English; her first impressions after moving to Baltimore County; and what she thought about United States prior to moving to the states. She spoke of her experience as a student at Towson University; moving to and building a network in Baltimore City; creating communities and driving change in Baltimore City; and the impact of her work in the Baltimore and Latinx communities. Rodriguez-Lima described her role and work as Director of MIMA; the mission and goals of MIMA; and the activities and initiatives she spearheaded in Baltimore City. Specifically, she spoke about initiatives to improve relationships between police department and immigrant communities, including her work with The Baltimore City Hispanic Advisory Council for Public Safety; the New American Task Force to attract immigrants and change people's perception of immigrants; and developing micro-lending opportunities for small businesses with immigrant owners. Rodriguez-Lima also explained her vision for immigrant communities in Baltimore City and the community of Baltimore as a whole. Clips of this interview were included in the 'Civil Unrest and Community Change' and 'Recognition and Representation' sections of the exhibition.

Interview. Related to exhibition 'Gateways/Portales.' Dated 20161103.