In 2019, Hamida Ouali moved to Columbus with her husband and two daughters, ready to begin a new chapter of life. But the transition wasn’t easy. Although she had studied British English in Algeria, she quickly discovered that American English was more difficult to understand and felt like a barrier to her sense of belonging. At first, she tried to connect through another organization, Riverview International Center, where she attended ESL classes and other programs. She now

"I grew up among a lot of raging racists. Some of the things that I heard in my youth were more than slightly offensive. From high school...