What’s Kaleidoscope?
Last year, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Nashville was honored to receive a $15,000 national grant from Catholic Charities USA. We were one of just 10 agencies across the country selected to develop a local program focused on reducing polarization, bridging divides, and enhancing social cohesion within our community.
With this support, we launched Kaleidoscope, a pilot program aimed at fostering community outreach and education to promote understanding of our foreign-born neighbors and strengthen connections throughout Nashville. It included our inaugural Kaleidoscope multicultural family-friendly festival on March 23, 2024. This free event celebrated the rich diversity of our local community through food, handcrafted items, and games, bringing together ethnic and cultural Catholic communities alongside organizations dedicated to building stronger ties among Nashville’s many international groups.
Kaleidoscope is part of the larger Team Up Project, a national effort launched by Catholic Charities USA in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity International,Interfaith Americaand YMCA of the USA. This initiative is designed to elevate and support acts of kindness, service, human connection, and cooperation.
Looking ahead, we hope to make Kaleidoscope an annual celebration, further enriching our community and fostering deeper understanding year after year.
13%
More than 13 percent of the U.S population (or 40 million people) is foreign born. The combined population share of foreign-born individuals and their U.S.-born children is approximately 26 percent.
Why Nashville?
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Nashville was chartered in 1962 in order to help 43 Cuban children who were sent to Nashville and who were part of a total cohort of 14,000 evacuated to the U.S. as part of Operation Pedro Pan during the communist takeover of Cuba. Over its 61 years, Catholic Charities has partnered with the city of Nashville and its citizens to welcome the stranger. Our agency has professional employees of different nationalities and many religious backgrounds—not just Catholic—who want to help and give back for all the good they have received from the Nashville community. Many of those professionals are former immigration and refugee clients, now citizens of the United States.