When visitors come to northwest Florida as part of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on projects titled U.S. State and Local Government, what do they examine? Our community found out this past autumn and winter when two different groups headed our way.
First, 19 visitors from Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Burma, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Greece, Israel, Montenegro, Senegal, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Vietnam tackled the topic. They met with City of Pensacola Council Member Sherri Myers, Gulf Breeze City Attorney Mary Jane Bass, Myra Van Hoose of the Institute for Women in Politics of Northwest Florida, Rick Outzen of the Independent News, and Scott Luth and Sena Maddison of the FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance. Topics included the Florida Sunshine Law, the gender gap in political offices, the role of the press in keeping government accountable, and the benefits of public-private partnerships. The group also attended a networking community coffee with a variety of professionals and were the guests of honor at the 10th anniversary party of the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council.
Two months later, four visitors from Bhutan arrived in town and approached the topic from a different angle. This time, instead of looking at transparency and citizen access, the IVLP participants delved into information technology, budgets, emergency operations, and personnel matters. Escambia County Director of Human Resources Eric Kleinert, Information Technology Coordinator Chris Karp, Senior Budget Analyst Regina Hall, and Emergency Operations Center Planning Coordinator Brad Hattaway all met with the group. In Santa Rosa County, Clerk of the Court & Comptroller Donald Spencer, Internal Auditor Sam Scallan, and Finance Director Michael Burton highlighted financial controls at the local government level while back in Pensacola, City Council Executive Don Kraher gave an overview of regional history and city government structure.
In addition to these meetings, the visitors participated in a volunteer activity with Katie Ramsey and the Serving the Hungry volunteers at First United Methodist Church. The Bhutanese also met with the high school students of the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council’s Youth Diplomats program where they discussed the goals of their visit to the United States, shared information about their work, and answered the teens’ questions about Bhutanese culture.
U.S. State and Local Government IVLP projects may look the same from the outside, but their goals and details vary project to project, city to city. The one thing they all have in common is the support and enthusiasm for mutual exchange they meet in our area.
