Welcoming Week 2025 is here!

Welcoming Week: September 12-21 and beyond! & Public Calendar of Nebraska Events

Welcoming Week is a great opportunity to get to know neighbors – new and old – to build strong and connected communities, to embrace the universal values of welcoming places, and to celebrate culture, helping everyone to belong and feel at home. Because our communities are strongest when everyone knows they belong. 

This year’s Welcoming Week theme “The Stories We Share“ invites us all to build understanding and celebrate our differences while also finding what we have in common. Through that understanding, we can help shape what comes next alongside our neighbors. 

Join neighbors here in Nebraska, across the country and around the globe, where community members are recognizing, no matter where we’re from and our different backgrounds, our common values and our future call on us to imagine what we can achieve when we listen and learn from one another. Across Nebraska, there are film screenings, dance parties, community art, local business tours, family fun nights & story hours, local service projects, street food – so many ways to connect, learn, and have fun with neighbors!

We know that here in Nebraska, welcoming is a core part of who we are, and we have a proud history of welcoming. No matter our different backgrounds, we share traditions and stories that started first in community, in finding commonalities, and in supporting each other as people, friends, and neighbors. 

You can enjoy Welcoming Week whether you are organizing an activity, sharing a message of community, or are just curious about getting to know your neighbors. 

Check out these Local Nebraska Welcoming Week Events & More!

Click here to find local Nebraska events NEAR YOU! Nebraskans across the state are hosting cultural performances, learning events, festivals and parades, and sharing food and stories of belonging and more! See this calendar of more than 50 events in communities across Nebraska!

Join a virtual event or participate in a Welcoming Week event outside Nebraska if you are traveling – Welcoming Week is being celebrated around the world!

Share Your Story – Be Part of Nebraska Stories We Share!

This Welcoming Week, we are lifting up the journeys, traditions and roots that connect us all. Join people across Nebraska in Stories We Share by posting your own story or photo and using the hashtag #StoriesWeShareNE. 

Click here to learn more about the campaign and join us!

Your story could be featured on Nebraska is Home social media, helping inspire connection and belonging across our state. Together, we’re showing that We Belong Together.

Here’s how else you can participate if you cannot attend an event!

Print a Welcomer sign for your office/business, post on social media, or use the Toolkit to create social media graphics, email banners or virtual meeting backgrounds in your next video call! 

Reach out to either of us (Eric and Christa) if you’d like to discuss doing something in your workplace, among friends, at your place of worship or somewhere else. We have some ideas that could be done with quick planning. 

Engage on social media! Share your photos and experiences with welcoming on social media using the hashtag #WelcomingWeek2025. Follow Nebraska Is Home and Welcoming America on Facebook or @WelcomingUSA on Instagram.