Thankful in real life
These seven IVLP youth and civic engagement leaders from Burkina Faso, here with us in October, met with Confections with Convictions, KYDNet, Girls on the Run and the Merze Tate Explorers, and had a facilitated action planning session with Jacob Pinney-Johnson to help bring what they learned back home.
We have so much to be thankful for this year as we have transitioned to programming in real life (since the end of March 2022). While keeping each other safe, we have been fortunate to host some 224 people from all over the world in 27 distinct programs since our return to in-person exchanges. Last weekend, we said farewell to an IVLP group from South Africa (our final group of the year), here exploring budgeting and financial oversight.
We are so looking forward to sharing more of the world with Kalamazoo and have many opportunities to engage early in the new year, with the first being Brazilian teens here as part of a leadership program (Jan 15-25) who are in need of host families! Below are a few recent highlights, and a #GivingTuesday invitation. Please find us in your preferred social media space to keep connected between our missives…
Honored to Win Public Media Network Award
Pictured (L to R): Beth Clark, Jodi Michaels, Jordan Blough-Orr and Nite Lawantrakool
Back in October, Global Ties Kalamazoo Executive Director Jodi Michaels and our staff were honored to accept the Content Partner Award at Public Media Network’s Power of Voice Celebration in recognition of our partnership with Public Media Network and use of media to further our mission of enriching local community with global diversity, one relationship at a time.
Thank you so much to all the incredible folks at Public Media Network for helping us to share the stories of our local hosts and visitors' experiences connecting both personally and professionally in our community. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Global and Hyper Local podcast, which focuses on the ways that connecting Kalamazoo with the world can enrich the lives of local people and guests from all over.
Global Ties Kalamazoo Board VP and ED co-author article published in Hague Journal of Diplomacy
Congratulations to Global Ties Kalamazoo Board Vice-President Anna Popkova and Executive Director Jodi Hope Michaels, who co-authored the article “Who Represents the Domestic Voice? Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Citizen Diplomacy,” which was published in the Hague Journal of Diplomacy as part of a special issue (Volume 17, Issue 4, October 2022) Forum: Engaging Home in International Diplomacy. While the article (link above) is behind a paywall, here below is the abstract:
At its core, diplomacy is about representation. Including the domestic voice in diplomatic work pushes us to reflect critically on who represents our local communities to international constituents. To what extent is the diversity of local communities reflected in such diplomatic initiatives as, for example, state-supported citizen diplomacy programmes? This article argues for the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work at the local level to the policy goals that citizen diplomacy programmes support. The article draws on the concept of ‘subaltern counterpublics’ to emphasise the importance of DEI efforts at the local level for more inclusive and authentic diplomacy globally. The article also discusses some of the current practices of intentionally incorporating DEI initiatives into citizen diplomacy work among civil society actors.
Please be in touch if you have trouble accessing the full article.
Hosting opportunities abound in the new year
Home hospitality meal hosted by Sarah and Lucas Mansberger. Pictured (L to R): Aimee Jachym, Tahar Kettani, Pepper the Dog, Miruna Ranjan, Anne Grimes, Lucas Mansberger, Jodi Michaels, Tshepo Mathekga and Sarah Mansberger. Photo Credit: Lucy Mansberger
It’s not everyday that we get to host Anne Grimes, Director of the Office of International Visitors at the U.S. Department of State for an IVLP-style hospitality!! We got to do just that (pictured above) in October, during one of our busiest months ever as we also welcomed Miruna Ranjan, who completed her Community Solutions Program Fellowship Practicum with us virtually in 2021, and came to Kalamazoo in real life this year (following a visit Jodi made to Singapore earlier in the year - all to advance our ‘Community of Practice: Connecting Youth Development Advocates Across the Globe joint initiative). We welcomed women from Romania who are at the forefront of helping their country support refugees from Ukraine (through Open World/COIL), two amazing IVLP groups from India in the biotech and infectious disease fields, the Consul General of Australia, based in Chicago, and so many more. We have some pretty wonderful photo albums for you to check out here…
Come 2023, we have many opportunities for you to get involved, from dinner hospitality for IVLP and YLAI guests, to overnight home hosting for teen leaders from Brazil (January 15-25), as well as Open World guests from North Macedonia, Armenia and Kosovo.
Send us an email and/or fill out the survey at this link to indicate your hosting interest…
#GivingTuesday - Support Exchange for Everybody
We focused the majority of our individual fundraising efforts in 2020 and early 2021 on Feed the Fight Kalamazoo, which raised over $100,000 and provided more than 10,000 meals to frontline workers fighting the Covid-19 crisis. It is time now to bring in local funding for our efforts to help Kalamazooans connect with other cultures, including our work in partnership with area youth leaders and youth development advocates (YDAs) to engage in international exchange with their counterparts in Singapore, among other local initiatives to ensure that in Kalamazoo, exchange truly is for everybody.
We hope we can count on each of you to participate in Giving Tuesday in any (or all) the following ways:
SET UP a one-time or recurring donation or mail a check to Global Ties Kalamazoo / 225 W Walnut St, Kalamazoo, MI 49007
REACH OUT to your personal and professional connections to share why it’s important to you to support Global Ties Kalamazoo. If your employer matches donations or offers sponsorships to local nonprofits, this can make your gift even more impactful.
SHARE our outreach efforts on social media on #GivingTuesday.
If you aren’t already following us on all our social media handles and liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts, we invite you to please do so regularly, and especially on Giving Tuesday.
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