On Thursday 5 June, the City of Helsinki hosted a Helsinki Welcome Day information session and celebration for new residents of the city from abroad. The event aimed to make Helsinki’s new international residents feel welcome, give them an opportunity to meet new people and present the wide variety of services and activities the city has to offer.
Helsinki Welcome Day also featured several personal testimonies and presentations that provided useful information and advice to people just starting out in a new place. The newly elected Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov told the crowd about his own family experience.
“It’s not always easy. For some of you, it might be, but for others, it takes some time to really start to feel at home in Helsinki. I know it from the experience of my parents, who immigrated to Helsinki from the Soviet Union. It took a while but, in the end, it was worth it,” Sazonov said.
Helsinki’s Migration Affairs Director Glenn Gassen also shared the story of his journey from Germany to Finland. He strongly encouraged the Helsinki Welcome Day participants to learn Finnish, as he felt it was the key to his finding his place in Finland, both personally and professionally.
In addition to the speeches and presentations, the event featured about two-dozen or so information stands providing details on services offered by the city and many of its affiliates. Participants were able to learn more about sports and cultural services, social activities, volunteer work opportunities, and Finnish and Swedish language courses, among other things.
Population growth fuelled by migration
For several years now, population growth and employment rate improvements in Helsinki have been powered by the foreign-born population. Almost one in five Helsinki residents, or 80,000 inhabitants, now hold a foreign citizenship. While foreign-born residents tend to face more challenges in the job market than Finnish-born residents, their contribution has even so been considerable.
Helsinki recognizes the role that its foreign-born residents can play in strengthening the economy and resolving pressing labour shortages. The city is committed to promoting non-discrimination, equality and human rights in its operations and is actively hiring people from
the international community for many roles. The goal is to be an ecologically, socially and financially sustainable city where different lifestyles and opinions can co-exist in harmony.
“Each one of you is important”
Mayor Sazonov ended his presentation with the following words:
“I truly believe that each one of you has a role in this community. Each one of you is important. I sincerely hope that you feel Helsinki is a place to establish your careers, raise families and build your own futures.”