Celebrating many welcomes and bidding a fond farewell this May
YLAI Fellows at our Kalamazoo kick off lunch
Kalamazoo Community Welcomes YLAI Fellows
Just over a year after our return to in-person programming following a 2-year pandemic pause, Global Ties Kalamazoo is busier than ever and excited to be participating in YLAI (Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative) as a cohort ambassador, in partnership with IREX.
In mid-May, we welcomed a dozen rockstar fellows from across the Americas (Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Paraguay, Mexico, Guatemala (2), Brazil, Haiti, Panama, Saint Lucia, Belize and Colombia) who are spending 32-hours-per-week with local Fellowship Placement Organizations (FPOs) in our community, and intensive days with us each Friday. They will be with us in Kalamazoo through June 12th.
Since its launch in 2015, the U.S. Department of State’s YLAI Fellowship Program has empowered emerging entrepreneurs from the Western Hemisphere to enable the full economic potential of the region’s citizens. More than 1,200 YLAI Fellows from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada have expanded their leadership and entrepreneurial experience through collaborations with U.S.-based organizations.
Fellowship Placement Organizations (FPOs) are a network of over 950 businesses across the United States that are passionate about cross-cultural exchange. They include small and medium-sized businesses, start-ups, large companies, accelerators and incubators, universities, and non-governmental and community organizations. FPOs have the unique opportunity to utilize the skills and talents of a rising leader in their industry, receive support for a substantive project that advances their strategic goals, and set the foundation for a lasting, mutually supportive partnership with follow-on grant opportunities.
Kalamazoo is one of the smallest cities participating, and our team is incredibly grateful to our community for stepping up to welcome these great young leaders!
Many thanks to the twelve Kalamazoo businesses and organizations who are hosting these amazing individuals:
City of Kalamazoo – Public Services
El Concilio
Confections with Convictions
Discover Kalamazoo
KRESA CTE – Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency, Career and Technical Education
KVCC Valley Hub – Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Food Innovation Center
KYDnet – Kalamazoo Youth Development Network
PMN – Public Media Network
RAWK – Read and Write Kalamazoo
Room 35
Sarkozy Bakery
Southwest Michigan First
Stay tuned to our newsletter, blog, and social media handles for updates from the YLAI Fellows, their hosts, and the GTK team!
Join Us In Welcoming Longtime Collaborator Leeanne Seaver to the Global Ties Kalamazoo Board
Have you ever wondered why some Global Ties Kalamazoo volunteers have participated for many years – and, in some cases, decades – as hospitality hosts? Vicksburg’s Leeanne Seaver shares her answer to that question and so many wonderful memories in a recent South County News piece. You can read the full article HERE.
“Global Ties Kalamazoo is thrilled to welcome Leeanne as our newest board member,” said Global Ties Kalamazoo Executive Director Jodi Michaels. “Her energy and passion for citizen diplomacy, and making the world better, are infectious and serve our mission.”
Welcome to the team, Leeanne!
Yesenia (foreground) at Southwest Michigan First Intern Mixer
Welcome to Kalamazoo Promise Scholar and Global Ties Kalamazoo Intern, Yesenia Salas
On May 9th, Global Ties Kalamazoo welcomed Yesenia Salas with open arms as our Higher Promise Intern to grow and learn in her professional career as she approaches the end of her college experience. Yesenia is a first generation college student and is currently a senior at Western Michigan University, with a major in marketing and a double minor in general business and Spanish. Her first few days were filled with many new faces and meeting individuals from around the world. As she immersed herself in the new work culture, she was excited to share some words about her first few days on the job with us:
“In the short time I have been working with Global Ties Kalamazoo, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a few extraordinary groups of people. On my first day I met women working in politics from Bangladesh (IVLP). Amongst them were a variety of different women with political power. I was able to sit in on their group discussion with the League of Women Voters of Kalamazoo about how to educate voters on current policies and reach as many voters as possible with different outreach strategies. It was interesting to hear about the voting culture in Bangladesh, I found it extremely eye-opening to hear about how candidates reach voters, and the similar advertising strategies used in the U.S. and Bangladesh.
”The most recent group I met is from all over the Americas. I was super excited about being able to connect with individuals from this YLAI group seeing as many of them spoke Spanish like me. Although most of them were older than me and much further along in their professional careers as entrepreneurs, we immediately hit it off. My favorite part of spending the day together was the car rides to and from different areas of Kalamazoo for their city orientation — we were able to talk about our personal interests and upbringings. They made me laugh when they told me my driving reminds them of drivers from their home country: Crazy and fast! I also took short detours to show them where I attend school at WMU and Hispanic markets around town where they might have some luck finding similar foods to what they have back home. We even bonded over our shared musical taste, in both Hispanic and American artists, it was definitely a vibe. I can’t wait to see them again!”
The Fondest of Farewells to Jordan
On the same day that we welcomed our new team member, we bid a very fond farewell to another team member, former Program Manager Jordan Blough-Orr. We’re feeling all the bittersweet feelings as we wish Jordan Blough-Orr all the best as they return to the early childhood education field. It’s been wonderful working with them, and we’re so grateful for the vast expertise, and all the joy and enthusiasm they brought to our work in the past year.
Here’s what Jordan had to say about their experience:
“I joined Global Ties Kalamazoo in the spring of 2022 freshly out of a job I had worked in for a decade that I hadn’t intended on leaving. I hadn’t worked outside of the early childhood field since I was in undergrad, working as a server and barista.
My first project with Global Ties Kalamazoo was an Open World delegation from Armenia focused on non-traditional journalism – podcasting specifically. I had never heard of Open World or Armenia, to be honest. I roped my dad and his partner into hosting two of our guests at their home, and from the moment the group arrived I was hooked.
One of the things you have to understand is that I am a townie. I was born at Borgess Hospital. I grew up six blocks from Henderson Castle on the edge of the Northside and in The Vine. I was in the graduating class that found out about the Kalamazoo Promise with an announcement over the PA system at school. I volunteered at the Kalamazoo Public Library; I was in the youth group run by OutFront Kalamazoo for queer kids when it was still tucked away in a church. This is my town.
Within the first two weeks of being at GTK, I suddenly was deeply suspicious that in fact, I knew next to nothing about Kalamazoo. I was walking and driving visitors to meetings with organizations I had never even heard of in places I’d walked by truly thousands of times. I met hundreds of people in Kalamazoo I had never met or even SEEN. My town, my Kalamazoo, grew like The Grinch’s heart, over and over. My understanding of what was really going on here (good, questionable and otherwise) became so much deeper and more appreciated. My life got bigger. My son’s life got bigger. My family’s lives got bigger. We all have people we love around the world now. I have a ‘son’ in Brazil and a close friend in Singapore.
I am headed onward now, with this new perspective and appreciation to stay curious. I thought I knew Kalamazoo and I didn’t think after 34 years there was anything else here to know. I was wrong. Exchange is for Everybody; including those of us who aren’t going anywhere (yet).”
We know so many of our volunteers, board members, and staff members have experienced this same “wow” factor while welcoming international visitors to our region. We miss you, Jordan!!
Global Ties Kalamazoo is seeking host families for Iraqi high school students who are visiting Kalamazoo July 18-31, 2023. These students are extraordinary! They will be learning leadership and multiculturalism around the theme of disability access and inclusion.
We are looking for individuals or families who can provide a private bedroom (students can share a bedroom if you’d like to host 2 guests in one bedroom with multiple beds), breakfast and dinner on most days, cultural activities on weekends, and transportation to and from our office in downtown Kalamazoo most mornings and evenings (although this is a flexible requirement).
Hosting these students is a great way to build international bridges and introduce intercultural diversity into your home this summer!
Other Springtime GTK Activities
Amidst all these comings and goings, we’ve also hosted a many wonderful IVLP groups, as well as CAMCA Fellows in the past month or so. Catch up on the latest at our social media handles or our blog.
If ensuring that #ExchangeIsForEverybody matters to you, we invite you to consider supporting our work. Click the button below to donate, or text GTKZOO to 44321.
Thank you for your support,
Jodi Hope Michaels and the Global Ties Kalamazoo Team
*This blog post was originally sent as an email newsletter on May 26, 2023
