U.S. Department of State Marks the 10th Anniversary of the Youth Ambassadors Program
Thursday, January 26th, 2012 8:43:59 by Fayyaz Yaseen
U.S. Department of State Marks the 10th Anniversary of the Youth Ambassadors Program
On January 25, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed 45 Brazilian Youth Ambassadors and two educators to the U.S. Department of State. The Secretary celebrated the program’s tenth anniversary and highlighted the importance
of engaging youth worldwide.
Since 2002, students chosen from Brazil’s public schools for their leadership and community service have visited the United States for a three-week exchange program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and
the U.S. Embassy in Brazil. This year’s program, administered by World Learning, once again brought Brazilian youth, ages 15-18, to American schools and communities in Washington, DC; Seattle, Washington; Bozeman, Montana; Cleveland, Ohio; Tulsa, Oklahoma;
and Charlotte, North Carolina. During their program, the Brazilian Youth Ambassadors engage and assist American volunteer and community service organizations in their respective U.S. host communities. They also learn about and experience American culture through
home-stays, building links with American civil society and schools. The students gain additional leadership skills and new perspectives to take back and apply to their own service projects in their home communities in Brazil.
The Youth Ambassadors program underscores the Secretary’s priorities of engaging international youth in meaningful dialogue, fostering relationships among youth from all backgrounds and creating networks of youth leaders. It also
is an important element of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs’ social inclusion agenda that seeks to ensure distinct groups of people are not excluded from access to goods and services, basic security and human rights.
Since starting in Brazil in 2002, the Youth Ambassadors Program has expanded to 25 countries, including Brazil, across the Americas to bring together high school students and adult mentors to promote mutual understanding, increase
leadership skills, and prepare youth to make a difference in their communities. Exchanges have been primarily from Latin America and the Caribbean to the United States, but American Youth Ambassador delegations from the United States have also been participating
in similar programs.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10656
Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen
on Jan 26 2012. Filed under World.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
