The last decade has seen the spread of new organizations, often called "Welcome Centers," to meet the needs of migrating people. The most recent example is the creation of the Welcome Centre in Warsaw, Poland, which provides legal, economic, and cultural services to immigrants from non-EU countries. The core concept underlying all these organizations is that migrating people need specialized services before, during, and after resettlement in a new society. In some instances, national and state governments directly operate these centers. In others, such as the Warsaw example, private organizations undertake the work, but with government financial support. The particular focus, or mix of services, provided by each organization varies, but the government model emphasizes the co-location of services under one roof, or what's sometimes called the "One-Stop Shop." In this article, we will explore the government model.
 

 The Welcome Center approach in the European Union apparently got its start in Portugal in 2004. The Portuguese government opened two "National Immigrant Support Centers," in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, in an effort to achieve a "holistic" and "coordinated" approach to immigrant integration. Representatives of five different state ministries were co-located at the centers. In 2007, the European Commission named the Portuguese initiative a "best practice" in immigrant integration and funded the development of a Handbook to encourage the replication of the model elsewhere. The handbook covers such issues as the out-stationing of government employees, the role of "cultural mediators" and immigrant organizations in center operations, and the financial and human resources necessary for implementation of the model. Similar initiatives now exist in at least six other countries of the European Union.
 

 In 2007, the One-Stop-Shop approach spread to the United States, when the State of Illinois opened up a Welcoming Center for new immigrants in the heavily Latino Chicago suburb of Melrose Park. At the Center, representatives of eight state agencies help immigrants access state-run programs. The budget for the Center's operating expenses is derived from contributions from the eight agencies. Immigrants may obtain information in bilingual format about healthcare, childcare, educational services, disability services, and labor and employment services. They can also sign up for state services and receive referrals to services available from other providers. Co-located at the Center are representatives of non-profit organizations that work with immigrants.To accommodate working schedules, the center operates with unconventional hours, staying open late into the evening several days a week. The case management system used at the Center was developed by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of the Illinois Department of Human Services. The Welcoming Center grew out of the work of an Interagency Task Force set up to advance immigrant integration in Illinois. In 2010, the State of Illinois was awarded the E Pluribus Unum Prize of the Migration Policy Institute for its groundbreaking work.