I was an intern for the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council close to four years ago today. Wow, how time flies! I started as an intern working for school credit while completing my bachelor's in international studies. I was lucky enough to be offered a paid intern position and stayed with the council for a...
Being a part of the 2019 Great Decisions program was enlightening and enjoyable. I had the opportunity to meet with other members of the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council and to discuss topics in foreign policy. Whether if I listened or participated, I left every discussion with a broader perspective and knowledge of global issues...
The last Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council project of 2019 was for 14 professionals from South Asia who traveled here for meetings and for a final evaluation of their national project. They traveled to Pensacola on the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), an international exchange of the U.S. Department of State, to look at Fostering...
In August 2019, five visitors from Azerbaijan came to Pensacola through the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on a project titled Economic Revitalization through Public-Private Partnerships. Their objectives for the project included: introducing governmental and public support for economic growth, presenting models of public-private partnerships’ oversight and legislative framework, seeing how public-private partnerships can stimulate...
Programs focusing on entrepreneurship help underscore the impact of international exchange around the world. The multiregional project Women in Entrepreneurship was no exception and highlighted entrepreneurial efforts in the U.S., particularly those initiated or managed by women. This project for the International Visitor Leadership Program also examined strategies for job creation. On the group’s first...
A Series of Updates by Former Interns After interning with Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council, I went back to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for my senior year at Wake Forest University. I graduated in May 2017 with majors in Economics and Religion and a concentration in Religion and Public Engagement. A week after graduation, after months...
In August 2019, the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council had the pleasure of hosting a group of four journalists from Thailand through the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on a project titled Journalism: Research and Investigation. On their visit to the United States, these journalists had specific objectives they hoped to accomplish. They included: “exploring...
In July 2019, our office welcomed the first of two journalism groups that would come to northwest Florida in the summer. The first was from Central Asia and their goal was to explore modern newsrooms through a series of appointments at a large daily newspaper, a weekly independent newspaper, a bi-monthly minority newspaper, and a...
In April 2019, a group of four visitors from Tajikistan arrived in town as part of an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) titled Countering Disinformation. Their national program dealt with the best practice in investigative journalism and supporting diversity and inclusion in journalism. Their local project covered these topics and added in was a bit...
