By Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 7, 2000; Page M03

Montgomery County is home to more than half of Maryland's foreign-born residents, a statistic that has wide ranging implications for a county government trying to provide services to an increasingly diverse group of residents.

Although recent estimates show that one in five of the county's 850,000 residents was born in another country, immigrants largely have been left to their own devices or must rely on nonprofit groups to navigate the government bureaucracy for services such as job training, English classes and help with naturalization.

That's about to change. After nearly two years of planning, county officials said this week that they expect to open the Charles W. Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity in Wheaton in January.

Named for a former county executive turned urban priest, the center is seen as a place where immigrants in need of advice or government services can go to one-stop shop. The center will house several nonprofit groups that work with immigrants and serve as a meeting space where immigrants can hold sporting events, dances, social clubs and cultural activities such as musical events and plays.

"Up until now, there has been no one place for an immigrant to go for help in navigating the system," said Ginny Gong, director of the Department of Community Use of Public Facilities and an original supporter of the center. "We had individual departments, but you had to know about them. In a county where so many people come from different places, we've got to make it easier for people to access the support they need."

County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) first announced plans for the center in spring 1999. The County Council initially gave Duncan enough money to only plan the project, saying that although the idea was a good one, the details needed to be fleshed out.

This year, the council agreed to spend $309,420 to fund the program for six months. The county is working to finalize a lease in Wheaton, according to project manager Alexandra Teaff, but Duncan eventually hopes to find a permanent center named for Gilchrist.

Gilchrist, who served as county executive from 1978 to 1986, died last year. He appointed the first African American and Hispanic staff advisers in the executive office, proposed legislation to create the county's minority business purchasing program and established the Commission on Ethnic Affairs.

"The new center will reflect Mr. Gilchrist's immense capacity to see and act beyond the boundaries of race, color and ethnicity," Duncan wrote in a letter to council President Michael L. Subin (D-At Large). "We will welcome all individuals and groups; persons long established in our county, as well as those newly arrived; and those with resources and those in need."

Program supporters say that the money will be well spent. Montgomery County agencies--from the police to the health department--cannot possibly employ people who know all the languages spoken in the county, Gong said. (In Montgomery County public schools, students come from 145 countries, and 122 languages are represented.)

Gong said she hopes that by drawing on the skills of people already established in the community, the center will provide translators who can help newly arrived immigrants deal with county agencies.

The county can't do all that on its own. Officials are looking for volunteers with a variety of skills. Those who speak foreign languages or have experience with immigration paperwork, paralegals and artists willing to help with cultural activities or lessons are particularly needed. People interested in volunteering should call 301-346-3474.

"Imagine moving from San Francisco to New York," Gong said. "It's a new place where you don't know where to go for things. Add to that the language barrier. Add to that the immigration barrier and the lack of a support system. Hopefully, this will go toward filling in some of the gaps that exist for people who came here to work for a better life."