(contemplative music) - [Kevin] We all come from somewhere seeking something we hold in our hearts.

The promise of possibility, the hope for a future our children can dream, then achieve.

Here, in the land between two oceans, families come seeking a brighter tomorrow.

(music brightens) They come for jobs and security, education and opportunity.

They come to escape hardships.

They come to give their kids chances they didn't have.

(children chattering) They come to live.

For more than 40 years, Bowling Green, Kentucky has been an unlikely, but no less welcoming, light for newcomers.

Immigrants and refugees from more than 30 countries make their home here.

The new residents have made Bowling Green, a vibrant, small city in western Kentucky, the envy of its peers thanks to rich diversity and a thriving economic landscape.

That success leads others to wonder could the model work in other parts of the Midwest?

Could it work four hours north of Bowling Green in Muncie, Indiana?

(wind rustling) - [Dan] It takes a lot of courage to leave your country and come to America.

(Arturo playing "Fur Elise" by Beethoven) - The boys could have a different way to study, different schools, a different country, a different language, and learn more.

We are looking forward to the experience, have something new.

Where we live, or used to live in Mexico, we were like kind of, I mean, we were happy there, and it was perfect.

I got a good job, I had a good job there.

But I'd say like, no, probably it's gonna be a good thing for our girls to move over here and just try and learn another language, another culture.

We know, like here, there is like a lot of people from around the world.

They're gonna have like more to know about many different cultures.

- Hey!

(flowing music) - [Kevin] It's estimated that less than 3% of Muncie's population was born outside of the United States.

The city has recently begun to change that with an initiative to rehome Afghan refugees, and by welcoming immigrants like the Camargos from Brazil, and the Robles family from Mexico.

- So you're gonna put a check mark next to the words you know.

- [Kevin] Access to multilingual education is one of the key draws.

- We want to be extremely welcoming to the families that are coming here.

So we've worked really hard to make that first experience very positive experience with the families.

- The.

Your turn.

- [Lee Ann] We've done a great job of recruiting teachers who speak a variety of languages.

- This one plus this one.

- That will be able to work with their students, build those relationships, and we're finding that the families have so much trust with Muncie Community Schools.

- Okay, what's the sound?

- [Kevin] But trustworthy schools are only one part of what's needed for families to want to make Muncie their home.

City officials like Mayor Dan Ridenour know good jobs and safe housing is equally important if the city hopes to attract families that will build the community's future, moving it from its historic position as an industrial hub to a city that can change and grow into the challenges and opportunities of 21st century living.

It's what led Ridenour to look at what solutions other similarly-sized cities like Bowling Green are using not just to survive, but to thrive.

- I began to look at the similarities between Bowling Green and Muncie, and it's pretty stunning how similar we are.

- Because this is United States of American.

(laughing) - Yes.

- Dream come true, you see?

- I met a gentleman, he came here from Bosnia, and he's been here 27 years and now has a very successful business.

And he just gave glowing reports of how the people of this city have welcomed him and others.

- [Kevin] Jeff Meisel, Bowling Green's city manager, says the city's success comes because of its residents, old and new alike.

- The success stories here are numerous.

The Bosnians and others have been entrepreneurs when they get here.

And it's been just amazing to sit back and watch them grow their businesses, and the success that they've had.

And, you know, I can't take credit for it.

Really, the city of Bowling Green can't really take full credit for it.

Bowling Green is still a big small town, and we support each other.

- Let's read it.

- [All] Honey Nut Cheerios.

- [Jeff] 2010 to 2020, Bowling Green grew about 25%.

It was 24.5% in population.

And we think a lot of that was the immigration and the refugees coming here, liking it here, bringing their families here to join up with them and live here.

- Neema.

- Yes.

- I'm gonna let you count it for us.

- We feel like we created a friendly environment, a comfortable environment for them to make their home here.

(gentle music) - [Kevin] The chance to build a better life for the next generation is taking concrete hold with families like the Simics.

Jake and Ella Simic left Bosnia to escape the war, and they're building a legacy in their new home country.

The Simics' daughter, Laurie Simic Issacs, and her husband, along with Jake and Ella, run La Gala, an event center in downtown Bowling Green.

- They grew up in Bosnia together, living normal lives up until the war.

And then everything kind of changed after that.

And then they ultimately just had to make the decision what's best for them, what's best for the family in general.

So they had decided that they needed to move out.

- [Kevin] For many refugees, the transition from a war-torn homeland to a new country was anything but easy.

- When they came over, I was just born like a month later.

All she knew was the word push that the doctor was telling her.

That was it.

She said she didn't understand anything else except that.

- Laurie's dad, Jake, found work at a factory, then went into the restaurant business.

And in 2013 he transitioned the family interest to the event center, La Gala.

That adaptability, work ethic, commitment to their community, has shaped who Laurie has become.

- My parents built such a good foundation for where we are now and for Bowling Green as a community.

Like, I see it every day.

People that I meet, people that come in here and try to book parties, especially with my dad.

He was kind of the main person when it came to the business side.

And the older I get, the more I realize I'm a lot like him.

You know, just very businesslike, and I like to work, and it's hard to pinpoint just like one specific situation but I see it every single day, especially with people that I meet and they come up to me and they're like, "You all don't realize how amazing your parents are."

They built a life for us that I will never be able to thank them enough for.

The things that we've gone through, the things that they've gone through moving here, I will never, ever be able to thank them enough.

For the decisions that they made for the, gosh, all the stuff that they had to go through, and us along the way with all that.

I mean, they'll know my grandkids, my great-grandkids will know about them forever.

(optimistic music) - We had the International Center here that's played a big role in helping refugees, immigrants come here to get used to our way of life.

They help 'em get jobs.

They'll pick 'em up at the airport.

- Thank you.

- [Jeff] Get their kids enrolled in our school systems, which our school systems are excellent.

- Morning, Jackson.

- [Kevin] Inside Bowling Green's public schools, 55 languages are spoken.

At the district's Dishman-McGinnis Elementary School, new students arrive almost daily, and students come in speaking everything from Swahili, to Mandarin, to Pashto.

- [Students] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States- - Celebrating everybody's culture.

That's a big part of what does diversity look like.

The fact that you're from the Congo, you're from Guatemala, you're from wherever, we celebrate that.

We want you to bring your culture here, and at the same time, this is our culture.

So we wanna celebrate both sides of that coin.

We've had a lot of parents that come and say "We want your child to learn English."

And we have to tell them, "Yes, we a hundred percent want them to learn English," but at the same time, we want them to keep that culture, as well.

So we have cultural diversity nights where we celebrate.

This is your country, tell us about you.

We have 22 languages spoken here at Dishman.

So when I say diversity, there's a lot of diversity.

- [Kevin] Respect for what families bring to share, and what families hope to learn, is a cornerstone to making the school excel.

- And so we're gonna help them not be so nervous.

You start with the relationship and you really show lots of love.

That's the beginning, because until they know that you care about them as a person, you're not gonna get them to learn.

I want you to try to come up with some other adjectives.

Safety is a big thing.

We have lots of refugee kids that have been through such trauma that they need to know they're loved and that they're safe here.

Takes a little while, but for the most part kids are very quick to learn the language because they wanna know what their peers are saying.

Kids learn very quickly.

(kids chattering) - [Kevin] Kawsar Popal Zai's family is now all safe in Bowling Green after her father was this summer able to leave Afghanistan and join Kawsar and her mom and little brother who've been in the States for nearly two years.

Kawsar and her brother are adjusting nicely to their new school routine.

- My favorite teacher is Miss Auld because I like learning about science and she's kind.

- [Kevin] Even as a second grader, Kawsar is looking toward her future.

- Learning about planets is my most favorite thing about science.

My favorite planet?

I like 'em all, but I like Jupiter the most is my favorite because it's the biggest one.

But the worst thing about Jupiter is it has no surface.

This school is nice, and big, and I found lots of new friends.

I don't really miss home because I want my family to come here because there's Taliban around in Afghanistan, and they're bad people.

- The parents want the best for their children, and they come here to the United States because they want a better life.

- [Kevin] The life for those newcomers built in the United States isn't without struggle.

Immigrants balance the pressure of a new language, new traditions, and a new culture with the responsibilities and sometimes the heartache they carry from their home countries.

Daniel Tarnagda left Africa in 2013, where jobs and opportunity were limited.

He came to the States ready to do whatever was needed to succeed.

That attitude helped him evolve from an entry-level position in the service industry to running a nonprofit that works in partnership with the school district.

And it's given him unique perspective on immigration.

- So as the first boy in the house, you have to provide for family.

And then I had, I need a job.

I was just eager to work.

So we find a place at Olive Garden, and they say we have only one job and it is dishwasher.

So she translate that to me.

I say, "No problem, give it to me, I want it."

I'm telling you, the first day I went to work if you see me, I had my suit on, I had a tie.

My shoes were so shiny, it looked like you can see the big boss coming in.

Everybody thought this is the next manager coming in.

Dude just shaking my hand, telling me, "Hey, hey."

So I went, take my coat off, put it in the closet, and I start working.

One of the best job I ever had in the U.S. Coming from a country who you have every day you don't know what you're going to eat, where you're going to sleep, and what you're going to drink.

And you come here, you turn on a faucet and there's water coming out.

It's like a fountain.

You just come out clean water.

You don't have to walk miles.

And you go to the grocery store, you know Walmart?

They got everything you can buy.

And you see one family that live here is not just one family.

There's hundreds other family back home that wait for them, for the help, or they're asking for the help.

With sense of proud being was okay, I made it.

I am able to take care of my people.

I'm able to take care of my family.

That is the most blessing you can ever give to someone.

- [Kevin] That idea of giving and receiving blessings resonates with Tahir and Amira Zukic who lost loved ones and their homeland to the war and genocide that happened in their native Bosnia during the 1990s.

- When war started from Bosnia, we went to Germany because it was scary to stay in Bosnia.

I was very afraid.

We couldn't get permanent visa in Germany.

And when we heard about program that America is taking Bosnian refugees, we actually applied several times.

(somber music) - [Kevin] Eventually the family was granted access to the States, and they wound up in Bowling Green, which had welcomed dozens of Bosnian families before them.

Those early days, though, weren't easy.

- This is really hard, hard time for me, and I just tried to figure out how I'm gonna doing here.

Can I survive here?

In few months when I start working, I think, "I'm not gonna make it here.

"I cannot make enough money to support family, "to buy Pampers for the kids."

You know, I have two kids home at this time and I think, "Man, that's not good for me.

"I cannot make it here.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do."

- [Kevin] The answer to the making it question came in the form of a long-haul trucker's license that would ultimately change the families forever.

(truck rumbling) - My parents opened this company in 2004 with one truck.

We began our operations that year, bought our second truck that year in 2004.

I was not in operations at that time.

I was only five.

- [Kevin] Today the company has more than 150 trucks and is a source of pride, not only for the family, but for the city, too.

- They're never gonna sit on their laurels and kind of, you know, count their blessings.

They're always two steps ahead of the curve and always working harder than that next person.

My mother's father was executed as part of the Srebrenica genocide.

They didn't find his body until 2005 when he was finally, you know laid to rest in the Srebrenica Genocide memorial up in Srebrenica.

Both of my parents went through this, they escaped a genocide, they immigrated to America.

They lived in section eight housing, living off food stamps for the first couple years of my life, working in a factory, breaking their backs.

So yeah, I mean, it's literally ingrained in my blood.

And, you know, I'm a grinder, I'm a fighter.

I'll never take a loss as, you know, a loss.

I'll see how I can improve upon it and take it as a lesson.

- [Debbie] Many of them were born and raised in refugee camps.

- 50.

- 50, good job.

I just feel compassion for them.

I just think that it's very brave of them to wanna come here and make a better life for themselves.

(peaceful music) - [Kevin] That hope for a better life extends to those families settling in Muncie where conversations continue about if and how the city will move forward.

- We're having a lot of follow-on immigration as a result of the atmosphere and the welcome they're getting in Muncie, Indiana.

- A saucepan is just a regular pan.

- The welcome family program that we have incorporated into our fabric.

(children singing) And just the general accessibility, affordability, the things that are here in Muncie.

They're feeling accepted and more people are wanting to come.

- Below are words for appliances and utensils.

Utensils are things like spoons.

- We've seen a lot of international companies who are choosing Indiana and Muncie.

We've had an Italian company opened up a North American headquarters.

A Polish company is opening a large manufacturing facility.

All of those bring different mindsets.

Many of 'em bring people over from their particular countries, which create those, they're not necessarily refugees, but they're certainly immigrants.

(Arturo playing "Fur Elise" by Beethoven) - [Kevin] Sabrina and Mattheus Camargo and their boys are just one family who came to Muncie, not as refugees, but as newcomers who wanted new opportunities for their children.

- I started to make some courses to be prepared to come here.

Then applied for one position here for the company here Muncie.

Then I was accepted.

I was approved in this process.

Between my approval and our trip to here is very fast.

Something about three months.

It's important to the people understand that there are a lot of different reasons that bring people from other countries to here, or for other places.

There are a lot of people with different histories.

For example, in my case, good job opportunity.

But we have a lot of different reasons, and understand that people that come from other countries can help the people here.

A lot of different things as well, with food, or with different sports or different knowledges, different experience.

- So we left our house, our home, our country, and we are learning.

But always you can meet someone from another country.

You can learn something.

Even a little thing you can learn.

Always you can learn something.

So here we are learning, but we think, and we know the people here are learning something with us, too.

(Arturo finishes "Fur Elise") (cookware clanking) - [Kevin] Like the Camargo family, Christina Castanedas and her husband, Rogelio Robles came to Muncie for career opportunities and to give their daughters a chance for new cultural experiences.

(pleasant piano music) - They can experience Mexico and they can experience U.S.

I think that's a... - And I think at the end, I think is get the best for each culture and- - Oh yeah, yeah.

- Take that the best part for each of them.

- [Kevin] The couple want their girls to soak up all they can from their experience in the States, but they hope the family can share and give back to their adopted city, too.

- Each culture can can add more to the culture here in the city.

I think if you have people coming from other countries, this city will be more attractive for more people, right?

So if you can bring more people, different areas, different countries, you open the the options and possibility, and more variety on everything, right?

(intense piano music) - [Kevin] Both families say they're glad they're getting a chance to try life in a new way.

- Here is very friendly.

They are ready to help.

They like to to talk, they like to make jokes.

- We have our neighbor.

- I like it.

- We have a neighbor here that he help us to cut our grass.

- I like to be in a small city and have this calm and the silence.

(laughing) - [Kevin] The peace, they say, brings new opportunities to explore and to reflect.

- We try to talk with them and explain and try to make them understand that the world is a very big place, and it's possible to do lots of different things.

- When you meet us, we can learn something about our country, too, if you want.

(children chattering) I don't know how to say the things the better with the better English.

But in my country I was a complete person, and slowly I can be a complete person here too and have this exchange.

(laughing) (gentle music) I would like, they could be everything they want.

I would like, they can do what they like to do.

The world is a big place and they can do everything they want and go to everywhere they want, too.

(alarm chiming) - Family are humans.

At the end, everybody looks for the same kind of things.

Everybody wants to be like happy.

Everyone wants to be safe.

Everybody wants to be like their kids raised in a good way, in a good environment.

So I think that those kind of things are common for any culture.

It doesn't matter whether it's your culture, your country, you're looking for the same things.

- [Kevin] Jobs, education, safety, compassion, freedom.

Whether your family's been here for generations or arrived only yesterday, we all want the same things: Opportunities for our children, a chance at something greater.

It's the pursuit of happiness our founders spoke of so many years ago, and with hard work, courage, and a little luck, we can build that something that's bigger than ourselves.

Because deep down, we all believe in possibility.

We all believe in hope.

(gentle music continues) (poignant music) (poignant music continues) (no audio) (no audio)