ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - In 2023, the Office of New Americans was established by St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones. The office's goal was to streamline resources to welcome immigrants and refugees making their way into the city.
Jones appointed Gilberto Pinela as the Director of the office. Before joining the office, Pinela, a United States Air Force veteran and Webster University graduate, served as Communications Manager for Cortex Innovation Community from 2017 to 2023 and hostws a Spanish language community affairs television show in Missouri, "Ahora San Luis" for STLTV.
"I am flying the plane as I am building it," said Pinela on Total Information A.M. "The mission of the office is to be a convener, a bridge between government agencies and the private sector, organizations and direct service providers. I want the office to be a bridge between all those entities so we can make St. Louis a more welcoming space."
Despite being only on the job for around 7-8 months, Pinela has already made his presence noticeable from working to create an International Foods Day at City Hall to help government workers can learn about different cultures through food to working to Lambert International Airport and the St. Louis City Emergency Management Agency to get them to do greetings and PSAs, respectively in different languages.
"It is important to make sure that people who coming here may be proficient in English, but they also need a little bit of help," said Pinela. "For example, if there is a weather emergency, we can make sure everybody is communicated. The sirens that go off, it is not because they are under attack, it is going off because we may have a tornado or a violent thunderstorm. Doing little things like that, it is what makes St. Louis be a place not only welcoming, but also a place where people belong."
