Officials with the City of Austin are helping new residents from outside of the United States get acclimated to the capital of Texas through a new International Welcome Program that begins with an orientation at 10 a.m. Jan. 26 at Austin City Hall, 301 W. Second St.

"The overall goal of the program is to welcome international newcomers to the city, to help them ease into the transition to life here in Austin and life in the United States, and really to connect them to existing resources in the community," said Natalie Betts, international economic development program manager for the city.

Betts said the catalyst for the program was the recognition that Austin is a diverse and international city with a growing immigrant population. The immigrant population made up about 18 percent of Austin's population in 2008, Betts said, up from about 8 percent in 1990.

The program will have representatives from various organizations, including Capital Metro, Austin ISD, Austin Public Library, the Austin Police Department and Austin Resource Recovery, providing presentations and information.

Jason Huskins, an officer with the Downtown Area Command District, a division of the APD, said representatives from the police department will be going over basic laws and safety for those who may not be familiar with Austin's laws.

"We have people moving here from different countries," Huskins said. "They have had different experiences with law enforcement in their countries, laws are different, the police departments in those countries are different, and you can't blame them for coming here and thinking it's the same thing here as it was there. That's where we want to educate them."

Betts said creating a better relationship between the community and the resources that are available to them is one of the goals of the IWP.

"I think that's a big piece of what we want to do overall is build trust and a comfort level with city departments and other organizations here that everyone comes in contact with and knowing how to work well with them," Betts said.

Information provided at the orientation will include connecting utilities, registering for school and using public transportation.

Celso Baez, community involvement specialist with Capital Metro, said his organization is looking forward to engaging with new residents about its 83 bus routes, MetroAccess and MetroRail, among other services.

"Capital Metro's core mission is to connect people, jobs and communities by providing quality transportation choices, so we're excited to introduce new Austinites to our public transportation system," Baez said. "I think our mission really resonates with what this program is trying to accomplish."

Officials said they will be offering a Spanish-language session in March and plan to duplicate the English and Spanish sessions in the fall.

An ongoing piece of the program is the International Welcome Ambassadors Program, which pairs immigrants with Austin natives to give advice and guide the transplants around the city.

Betts said the ambassadors program, which started in December, is designed to be the social component to the IWP.

"We want to have orientation sessions focus on institutions in Austin and how you can connect to city resources and other governmental resources, but when you come into a community, you also want to know other people and get answers to those questions you can't call a hotline and can't call city hall about," Betts said. "That's the goal of this program, to provide person-to-person ambassadorship to welcome them to our city and help them feel at home here."