Our History

The original Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative was founded in 2003 to encourage the integration of newcomers from around the world into the Littleton community and to develop an understanding of immigrant cultures by the longer-term residents of our community.

From 2004-2009, a One-Stop Information Center, supported by a grant from the Colorado Trust, was housed in the City of Littleton’s Bemis Public Library. In 2009, when the grant funding ended, the Center became a program of the library and is now called the Immigrant Resource Center.  There are many opportunities for volunteers to work with the Center as citizenship mentors, in the Center’s Language Partners Program (ESL mentoring program), in the office and on special projects.

Immigrant Resource Center at Bemis Public Library – 303-795-3968
Alejandra Harguth, director
http://www.littletongov.org/bemis/lirc

The original initiative also had a major health component that provided immigrants and refugees with wellness information and helped connect them with health services. It also brought together health, mental health and dental health providers in the Littleton area who serve low-income people to share information. The health portion of the original initiative has become the nonprofit South Metro Health Alliance, serving immigrants, refugees and low-income people in Arapahoe and Douglas counties (with the exception of Aurora, which has its own program).

The Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative (LI3) was then formed as a non-profit 501c3 organization in November 2009 to continue efforts to develop support for Littleton’s immigrants. While the organization endeavors to help all foreign-born persons needing help, financial assistance is reserved for documented immigrants, refugees and asylees.