When you volunteer with Gulf Coast Diplomacy, you’re choosing to immerse yourself in local adventures with international visitors. Volunteers founded our organization, and we depend on the willingness of people in our community to meet with international visitors professionally as well as socially. By getting involved, you can develop your intercultural skillset through coffees and cultural activities. You can also strengthen your industry knowledge through conversations and discussions exploring best practices and mutual challenges.
Meet the Visitors: One of our goals is to introduce our visitors to the “American way of life” so whether you are retired, a student, or find yourself with a full family and work schedule, we have opportunities to interact with these visitors. Is it family game night at your house? Include one of our delegates! If you want to take a visitor shopping, would like to introduce someone to Gulf Islands National Seashore, or want to take a few people to the National Naval Aviation Museum, let us know and we will work to make that happen.
Dine with the Visitors: Do you eat hot dogs at the ballpark, or does your family regularly eat a picnic lunch Saturday afternoon at soccer practice? That’s a great way to spend time with our visitors. Informal meals, barbecues, and potlucks are all easy ways to experience citizen diplomacy. Since the visitors eat daily in restaurants, we like to offer them a meal in a local home through our Dine with a Delegate program. We generally assigned two – three visitors per home, along with an interpreter if necessary.
Put Your Talents to Work: If you would like to help us in the office, we have plenty of opportunities from writing thank you notes once a month to helping with our membership events. We also are always on the lookout for local professionals who want to attend our community coffees, and we welcome your ideas on how you would like to spend your talents and time with us.
Polish Your 21st Century Skillset: For university students interested in international affairs, we have an internship that exposes you to the various players in the International Visitor Leadership Program. The position gives you a chance to have your research and writing skills make a difference both locally and globally as you help develop a globally literate workforce through educational outreach programs and professional exchange.
Volunteer with a Visitor: High school students are encouraged to contact us to find out about volunteer activities they can participate in alongside the visitors.
Expand your world! It’s easier than you think to get involved as a volunteer.