The International Institute of St. Louis will open the Anna E. Crosslin Multicultural Center for Excellence in January to encourage people in the region to connect with those of other cultures.
Visitors will be able to take cultural education classes and attend events. Business owners also can use the center for company training and seminars.
The institute aims to foster multicultural connections, in which the broader community embraces immigrants and refugees and the center helps bring cultures together, International Institute of St. Louis President and CEO Arrey Obenson said.
“We realized that everybody wanted St. Louis to be more inclusive, we just had to figure out how we were going to make it happen,” he said. “So we figured that having the multicultural center could be a good starting point.”
The institute plans to raise about $525,000 to get the center through the first couple of years. It will be housed at the International Institute for the first few years. Once the institute raises nearly $2 million, officials will then use the funds to build a standalone location.
Obenson said he sees the center, which is named after the institute’s former leader, as a way to make St. Louis a more welcoming place.
