In June 2019, Gulf Coast Diplomacy hosted a visitor from Mozambique who works to combat human trafficking. He was in the region as a participant of the International Visitor Leadership Program, an exchange program of the U.S. Department of State which works to connect young leaders from around the world with their professional counterparts in...
Seven visitors from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, and Tajikistan came to Pensacola in June 2019 to discover how small-to-medium-sized communities handle cyberbullying. The project’s title was 21st Century Changemakers: Be Best: Strategies for Combating Cyberbullying. World Learning coordinated the national itinerary. Several weekend activities introduced the group to our community. Gulf Coast Diplomacy...
After the tumultuous year of 2020, 2021 has brought some good news for two of our Youth Diplomats. Anne Pratt and Manuela Palacio will participate in international exchange programs sponsored by the U.S. Department! Anna Pratt will participate in the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI-Y). NSLI-Y is a U.S. Department of State program designed to...
This year, we asked current and former Youth Diplomats how they viewed their participation in our program. From their responses, we are happy to share many feel their time with us has positively impacted their lives. Though not every Youth Diplomat plans to pursue a degree in international relations, this program has inspired them to...
On May 11, Gulf Coast Diplomacy welcomed Jamal Benhamou to speak at a Small World Cafe on the Amazigh people of his native country, Morocco. Over the course of the hour, Benhamou shared everything from basic aspects of culture, such as food and fashion, to modern challenges that the Amazigh people face in Morocco. Spread...
This spring, we had the privilege of hosting retired U.S. Army General John Adams as part of our Small World Café series. During this time, he shared his experience working overseas. In particular, he spoke of his service on five U.S. Embassy Country Teams and the U.S. Delegation to the NATO Military Committee and of...
This spring, I participated in a panel discussion on education in the time of Covid-19 with a group from Poland (click for YouTube recording). Led by International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumnus Artur Krawczyk and facilitated by Grzegorz Nawrocki of the British Alumni Society, panelists included educators, administrators, and students from Poland and the United...
On Thursday, May 20th, Gulf Coast Diplomacy hosted its 2021 Annual Meeting via Zoom for members and guests. Though not in a traditional space, the participants engaged in a networking activity through small breakout rooms. Here, they shared their stories on how citizen diplomacy has impacted their lives. Members and guests shared memories of past...
In May of 2019, Pensacola hosted visitors from the People’s Republic of China through the State Department’s International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP). The group’s focus was on the role of community and vocational colleges in the U.S. to learn how they contribute to economic development and how they assist underserved student populations. Meridian International Center...
As a part of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) titled Teaching STEM in English: A Project for Kazakhstan, Pensacola welcomed five education specialists from Kazakhstan in early May. The focus of the program was to exchange ideas and topics about education, with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields, in a...
