YLAI 2024 Outbound Exchange award recipient Traci Furman shares experiences hosting international fellows

Oct 22

2024 YLAI fellow Guille Sainz (front left) and Public Media Network Narrative Lab Manager Traci Furman (also left, directly behind him) are pictured at a film screening of Sainz' romantic comedy "Engaño a Primera Vista" (Deceit at First Sight) at PMN this spring. Traci will be visiting Guille in Bolivia to collaborate on a documentary as a YLAI Outbound Exchange program opportunity.

Public Media Network Narrative Lab Manager Traci Furman, who also serves on the Global Ties Kalamazoo board and has volunteered with us in numerous capacities throughout the years, recently sat down with Global Ties Kalamazoo CIP/IJAB fellow Alberta Brown to discuss Public Media Network’s experiences as a Fellowship Placement Organization for YLAI fellows and her being selected as a 2024 YLAI Outbound Exchange participant to continue her work with #YLAI2024 alum, filmmaker Guille Sainz in Bolivia.

Traci applied for the 2024 Outbound Exchange component, which offers up to $5,000 in funding for YLAI FPO hosts to travel to their fellow’s country to continue their collaboration. She’ll be receiving filmmaking training and collaborating with Sainz on co-creating a documentary. She said she sees “a million benefits to this professionally for PMN.”

Here are some of the reasons she said local businesses and organizations should consider hosting a YLAI fellow:

You can outline qualifications and experience you want to have in a fellow.
The placement process is designed for both the FPO and the fellow to have a good and enriching experience.
The pre-arrival steps are effective for creating work plans and clarifying expectations before their arrival, and help everyone begin the four weeks with feet on the ground running.
You have the opportunity to think about a need or special project in your organization or business and have expert help meeting that need or doing that project.
These could be improvement projects that you and your staff have talked about or wished for but did not have capacity to work on.
These projects will benefit from a fresh perspective and ideas generated outside of your staff.
Adding a professional voice to the team with a different cultural perspective is awesome.
The application and process is very easy and there is plenty of support from Global Ties Kalamazoo and IREX.
There are no fees or reports and the fellows do not need micromanagement - they can be given the project, present ideas to you and work independently with check-ins. I.e.: It is not a time drain for the organization or business.
The placement works best with staff that can trust and be open to the professional gifts of the fellows.
And really after four weeks, even if only four weeks of work have been contributed it is worth it in terms of relationship building.
The impact on the fellow may not be clear to you, but for them the experience can strongly influence their life and career path.
Globally, you are part of international goodwill and understanding.
The outbound exchange is an awesome benefit to participating as an FPO. It is an opportunity to visit another country and continue learning and working. The outbound exchange is like a hands-on professional conference! A dynamic way to learn, observe and do something in your field, and it does not cost your organization or business anything for you to participate.