Gulf Coast Diplomacy reached a milestone in 2024. We officially celebrated five years of our Camp Global program.
Camp Global is a local initiative to advance teens in Northwest Florida and beyond in leadership, community engagement, and intercultural competency. Young leaders develop tangible skills for their professional development and explore topics of global importance alongside their international peers.
The program supports workforce development by offering training in best practices in intercultural interaction. The camp also promotes participants’ digital literacy and communication skills, encourages them to think critically, exposes them to themes in U.S. foreign policy, and promotes global awareness. Local high school and university interns are employed as online camp counselors. Many of these facilitators are alumni of the Youth Diplomats program, honing their leadership and collaboration skills on camera and behind the scenes.
The initiative has slowly grown over the years. In 2020, we invited our friends at Global Ties Detroit and American Corner Pristina to join us in participant and speaker recruitment. In 2021, we widened the circle and asked the Hands Up Project and American Corner Pristina to join us in designing the experience, which included teens recruited from ten different countries by alumni of the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), Youth Ambassadors Brazil, Jovenes en Accion, and Global Action Italy.
Starting in 2021, local professionals joined the program as guest speakers. We also invited IVLP alumni to speak about their work to inspire campers to think about positive ways to impact their communities.
In 2022, American Corner Pristina suggested a new collaboration. Due to their efforts and sponsorship, Camp Global went live in 2023 with a three-and-a-half-day program for students in Pristina. In August 2024, our executive director returned to Kosovo at their invitation to run a week-long program for teens at the American Corner Pristina and American Corner Prizren.
In collaboration with American Corner Pristina, in the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024, we created two pop-up virtual Camp Global sessions for the Youth Diplomats, during which they engaged with students from Kosovo. These complemented the Youth Diplomats’ regular in-person meetings and encouraged them to explore cultural topics with international youth. In the 2024 camp, the Floridians eagerly created travel guides to introduce Pensacola to youths in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, and Kosovo. The international teens did likewise.
As we enter our sixth year, it is no exaggeration to say we are beginning to see how Camp Global supports transnational partnerships that will benefit citizens in Northwest Florida and abroad. This program is not just about the participants but also about the ripple effects it creates. We are grateful for the local support and donations that help ensure this program’s success and continuation into the future. Thank you for your continued engagement and enthusiasm for our citizen diplomacy mission.
