As Spring springs, so much to share about our work in Kalamazoo
Connecting with colleagues and making an impact
With the world in turmoil in so many corners of this sphere, one can get demoralized and feel that we can’t change anything - but we can. At this precarious time, fostering deep connections and exploring our shared humanity, in myriad ways, with people from all over, allows us to do what we can, where we are, to move the needle.
It’s been a busy and inspiring month for our team and program participants alike as we opened up with our largest ever Kalamazoo contingent attending the Global Ties U.S. National Meeting, Diplomacy in Action: Raising Community Voices, with some 600 of our peers just outside Washington, DC. At the same time, we welcomed our second YLAI cohort to the Kalamazoo community for 4-week-long fellowship placements with local organizations, and we have been gearing up for so much more this spring.
It was an exciting time to be in the center of the action advocating for our international exchange work, with federal budget decisions set to be made. Our team had the pleasure of meeting with staff in the offices of Senators Peters and Stabenow and Representative Scholten on Advocacy Day, sharing the power of the connections built through IVLP and all of our exchange programs, and encouraging our elected officials to champion the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs budget, where funding for many vital programs, including many of ours, originates.
Executive Director Jodi Michaels and Program Manager Emma Baratta were joined at the National Meeting by Board President Tom Kostrzewa and Vice President Anna Popkova, and with four of us on site, we were able to divide and attend many highly valuable breakout sessions on topics from regional briefings to program development to DEIA, and to have meaningful conversations with people from all over the country who share our passion for what we do - our shared mission. The many enriching breakout offerings and insightful plenaries also included a great session on the Employee Life Cycle, led by Jodi, Xiao Yin Zhao (World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana) and Maris Thomson (Meridian International Center) as part of the GT Network Community of Practice for Diversity. We all enjoyed the opportunity to connect with our colleagues from across the network to share ideas, promising practices, and pride in our work!
We were also honored to be among the recipients of the 2024 Network Innovation Award for Outstanding Group Collaboration (pictured above), which recognized all of the partners who worked on the "Global Moment in Time: Reflections on DEIA" IVLP project, which included Kalamazoo in January/February 2023.
Our time in D.C. gave us the opportunity to focus on the big picture of the work that we do each and every day, draw inspiration from our peers to continue growing and evolving as an organization, and to reflect on the power of exchange in our community and around the world.
Kalamazoo welcomes #YLAI2024
Opening day of YLAI orientation in Kalamazoo. Our Fellows are pictured in chambers at City Hall with Commissioner Qianna Decker, Mayor David Anderson and City Manager Jim Ritsema.
Our Social Media and Storytelling Specialist Beth Clark welcomed our 2024 YLAI (Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative) cohort to Kalamazoo while the rest of the team was in D.C. It’s been wonderful connecting this great group of young entrepreneurs with our community and their Fellowship Placement Organizations (FPOs), where they’re spending four weeks collaborating on a wide variety of projects. The group spends Fridays with the Global TIes Kalamazoo team learning more about our city, as well as our cultural and business landscape in general. Thanks to everyone who’s rolled out the red carpet to make this great group feel at home, including Jane and the team at Discover Kalamazoo; Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson, City Commissioner Qianna Decker, City Manager Jim Ritsema and many members of his team. Last Friday, alongside solutions pitch prep with Room 35, we visited with Doug Lepisto at Sleeping Giant Capital, and made the rounds at the Women’s Business Expo.
We are so grateful for the twelve FPOs creating rich shared experiences with our Fellows four days per week all month long:
Bee Joyful Shop
Can Do Kalamazoo
El Concilio
Confections with Convictions
City of Kalamazoo – Public Services
City of Kalamazoo – Shared Prosperity
KVCC Valley Hub – Food Innovation Center
KYDnet – Kalamazoo Youth Development Network
PMN – Public Media Network
Room 35
Sarkozy Bakery
United Way of South Central Michigan
GTKZoo in the media
You may have spotted (or heard) some of our team members and program participants in local media throughout the month of March. Jodi and Beth recently visited WMUK to share what their reporting means to them personally and professionally in segments recorded to promote their membership drive. We’re so grateful to all the local journalists who regularly engage with journalists and other international exchange participants in our community.
Want to see some of the amazing stories local journalists have shared about our work recently? The student journalists at Loy Norrix’s Knight Life produced numerous segments in partnership with the Brazilian Youth Ambassadors Program (YAP):
Link here
Public Media Network (PMN) also recently shared a podcast showcasing a project the Brazilians worked on this winter.
You can see it here
YLAI Fellow Guille, at his field placement at PMN, also produced a lengthy ‘Real World Kalamazoo’ segment available on PMN’s channels (also linked above), with more to follow, introducing all the wonderful members of our Kalamazoo YLAI cohort :)
Why Host?
We hope you’ll join us in welcoming some of the incredible folks who’ll be heading to Kalamazoo in coming months. You can always view our volunteer opportunities on our website, as well as in the survey linked here. But first ... why host?
As we celebrate Women’s History Month and the impact so many amazing women in our community have made on our work, we recently asked a couple of recent volunteer hosts to share how participating in citizen diplomacy has impacted them and their families.
Here’s what long-time Global Ties Kalamazoo collaborator, host, and current Board Vice President Anna Popkova had to say about her 3-year-old daughter’s first experience hosting an international visitor in January:
Anna on the left, pictured saying farewell to Gabriela at the airport.
“The last night … I asked her if she wanted to say goodbye that night or in the morning and she said: ‘I don’t want her to leave … ever!’” Popkova said. “A couple of days ago we were reading a book with my daughter and there was something in the book about Rio de Janeiro, and I said: ‘Oh, by the way … Rio de Janeiro is in Brazil. Who lives in Brazil?’ and she goes: ‘Gabriella!’ So to me, this is really cool. My child is 3 and she’s already met someone from there and had that direct experience, and when she hears Brazil, she’s going to think about this amazing experience she had… the books that she read with our guest, the Brazilian breakfast they made together, the places they went together. I think making that connection between some abstract country that she hasn’t been to yet and that specific person who was in our house and had such a great experience with us is really important for the way my daughter grows up and the way she thinks about the world and the different people and places and cultures of the world.”
Christy Chambers’ household first hosted their first international guests in the summer of 2023, when they welcomed two teens from Iraq participating in the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP), and they were thrilled to open their home again this January to a youth from Brazil. She and her husband Daniel Stevens said the experience has been so enriching for both of them and their son, Ethan.
Christy (left) bidding Pedro farewell at AZO on return to Brazil
“I think that you learn so much more about another culture than you ever could in a book or a class when you’re in a home with someone,” she said. “All of these little things come up – so it’s certainly like a deeper learning. And also ... just being raised with that, you have so much more acceptance of different cultures.”
She encourages folks not to wait to host until the perfect time in their lives when their homes are immaculate and their schedules are completely clear: “I would encourage people to just show up as you are because that’s where a lot of the real connection and value comes. It’s actually pretty perfect … just to see what day-to-day life is like.”
Kitchen Table Diplomacy (Meal Hosting) Opportunities
April 13 or 14 - Edward R. Murrow Program For Journalists: Research and Investigation IVLP - 7 International Leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Poland, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda, with 1 liaison
Apr. 25 - Promoting Service Learning and Career Counseling in Education IVLP - 5 leaders from Georgia with two liaisons
Apr. 27 or 28 - Bridging the Gender Divide through Inclusion of Women Entrepreneurs in Gaming, Tech, and Freelancing IVLP - 10 leaders from Pakistan with 2 liaisons
May 17 or 18 - Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists – New and Traditional Broadcast Media IVLP - 11 leaders from across Latin America with three liaisons
Overnight home hosting opportunities
May 10 - June 9 (with generous stipend!) - U.S.- Jordan Leadership Exchange Program (UJLEP): 12 fellows in Business and Entrepreneurship, Public Health, DEIA, Civil Society, Civic Participation, Women’s Empowerment, and Community Engagement
June 7 - 15.- Legal Aid and Civil Society (Open World - COIL) - six people from Azerbaijan who work with IDPs, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized communities to gain access to fair counsel and protect their rights to equality before the law.
July 17-30 - Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP) - 20 participants (including 18 youth and two adult mentors) focused on Peace Building, Community Resilience, and Entrepreneurship
Fellow hosting in the workplace
May 10 - June 9. - U.S.- Jordan Leadership Exchange Program (UJLEP): 12 fellows in Business and Entrepreneurship, Public Health, DEIA, Civil Society, Civic Participation, Women’s Empowerment, and Community Engagement.
