Looking to spice up your winter, while saving money? The YUM Restaurant Card is your ticket!

This card is a wallet-sized miracle. It supports local businesses. It gets you a discount at thirteen immigrant-run Somerville restaurants. It’s only $12 online. And all the proceeds go to support The Welcome Project’s programs for Somerville’s immigrant families.

The Welcome Project is a Somerville non-profit dedicated to strengthening civic and community life by diminishing racism and empowering the city’s refugee and immigrant groups.

The YUM card, developed with support from students at Tufts University offers discounts at 13 immigrant-owned businesses across Somerville. All proceeds from sales of the $10 card will go to support The Welcome Project’s programs for Somerville’s immigrant families. The card is available online at www.welcomeproject.org/yumsomerville for $10 plus $2 for processing/postage.  Individuals can also purchase the card at The Welcome Project, at Tisch College at Tufts University, or at D Squared on Highland Avenue in Davis Square.

“The restaurants accepting the YUM Card play an important role in the local economy and are central to many of Somerville’s cultural communities,” explained Warren Goldstein-Gelb, director of The Welcome Project. “In a recession, small businesses are among the hardest hit. Our hope is that the YUM Card will provide support to a particularly vulnerable group of small Somerville businesses while giving residents the chance to learn about the many cultural communities here in Somerville.”

Featuring a design by students who are in the Tufts combined degree programs with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the card offers a 10 percent discount on food orders of $25.00 or more at restaurants offering a wide range of cuisines.

The card is part of a larger effort at economic revitalization in Somerville led by Tufts’ Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. Through a grant from Learn and Serve America of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), Tisch College’s Project PERIS (Partnering for Economic Recovery Impact through Service) partners Tufts faculty and students with community organizations to identify and address priorities for Somerville’s economic recovery.

“Every Project PERIS course is led by a Tufts faculty member in partnership with a Somerville agency co-educator,” said Tisch College Director Nancy Wilson, who also serves as director for the Project PERIS initiative. “This model allows us to work throughout Somerville to help revitalize the local economy and to engage students in delivering services to those in our community with the greatest need.”

Through Project PERIS, Goldstein-Gelb has collaborated in courses with Jennifer Burtner, Tufts lecturer in the Anthropology Department of the School of Arts and Sciences. Starting in fall 2008, students in Dr. Burtner’s “Anthropology in Action: Fieldwork Methods for the 21^st Century” seminar began a mapping project where they worked to identify local businesses key to the cultural and economic life of Somerville. In partnership with The Welcome Project and the School for the Museum of Fine Arts, the project has since evolved into a broader effort at cultural and economic revitalization in Somerville.

While the Welcome Project actively works to promote the businesses participating in the YUM Restaurant Card program, Dr. Burtner’s students will continue to document the diverse histories of these businesses and of the people who created them and who run them today.

“It is the perfect method for combining Tufts’ resources and mission,” explains Dr. Burtner, “providing students with a very practical application for the research skills we teach them and an avenue for putting into practice the civic responsibility so many feel – all for the benefit of the community that is now their home.”

The 13 restaurants participating in the YUM Restaurant Card program are:

• Amelia’s Kitchen (Italian) 1137 Broadway (617) 776-2800
• Café Belô (Brazilian) 120 Washington St. (617) 623-3696
• Café Belô (Brazilian) 445 Somerville Ave (617) 284-6255
• Fasika (Ethiopian) 147 Broadway (617) 628-9300
• Highland Creole Cuisine (Haitian) 2 Highland Ave (617) 625-8333
• House of Tibet Kitchen (Tibetan) 235 Holland St (617) 629-7567
• Machu Picchu Charcoal Chicken & Grill (Peruvian) 25 Union Sq (617) 623-7972
• Maya Sol (Mexican) 179 Broadway (617) 776-9179
• Namaskar (Indian) 234 Elm St (617) 623-9911
• Neighborhood Restaurant & Bakery (Portuguese) 25 Bow St (617) 628-2151
• Restaurante Turístico Machu Picchu (Peruvian) 307 Somerville Ave (617) 628-7070
• Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar (Thai) 255 Washington St, Union Sq (617) 625-9296
• Sabur (Mediterranean) 212 Holland St (617) 776-7890