During the fall of 2021, I was a program facilitator for Gulf Coast Diplomacy's Youth Ambassador program. This program included youth leaders from all over the Americas, including El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, and the United States. In the new normal of virtual programming, these young leaders brought their enthusiasm and young professionalism in tow....
How do you address political policy formation, public-private partnerships, leadership, and advocacy strategies with visitors from the Kyrgyz Republic participating in an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP)? In the late winter of 2020, our community did just that through a series of hands-on activities and dynamic meetings for professionals from the Ministry of Education and...
As we prepare to return to in-person programming, we are looking back through our archives at our past exchanges for inspiration. One of our last pre-pandemic project was for two environmentalists from Costa Rica and Ghana who came our way to explore NGO management and strategies and is a great example of how the International...
At the end of February 2020, we welcomed seven visitors on an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) titled Women as Political and Social Leaders. The exchange participants came from Chad, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan to examine the role of women in the United States government and the community at large and...
Letter from a Youth Ambassador It’s always a pleasure to hear from program alumni. In early 2022, Youth Ambassador Joanna Sánchez, a teenager from Nicaragua, reached out to give us an update. Today is a really important day for me because I made come true a dream I was working very hard to achieve. It...
Five key policies drive the work of the Department of State. Three of these are promoting the advancement of democracy, encouraging economic growth and prosperity, and promoting international understanding of American values and policies. Can one meeting have such a significant impact? Indeed, it can. The combination of these meetings helps our organization assist the...
Most Community Spotlights highlight the work of adults in Pensacola, Florida. This spotlight, however, focuses on an honorary citizen with a special connection to the City of Five Flags. Abraão José da Silva first came to Northwest Florida from his hometown in Brazil on a World Learning Youth Ambassadors exchange in high school. While here,...
As a local, participating in a meeting with international visitors through Gulf Coast Diplomacy can appear minor. Yet, examining why the U.S. Department of State promotes international exchange through the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and other exchanges reveals how impactful these meetings can be. Even when 100% of our exchanges are virtual, as happened...
This Summer, eight other families and I had the pleasure of meeting up via Zoom with young Iraqi leaders from IYLEP. It was two weeks full of nothing but fun! Despite the physical distance and connection issues that came with virtual communication, we host families still did our best to ensure our Iraqi participants engaged...
What's not to like about Thanksgiving with international visitors? Even when the conversation about family traditions takes place through a computer screen, it is a great way to introduce our community's culture. This year, we tweaked our traditional offering since we could not pass the cranberry sauce in person and created cultural hospitality for a...
