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Around the WorldBoston May - June 2003
Our Mission: WorldBoston is a catalyst for global engagement that offers cultural perspectives and promotes international thinking in individuals and organizations. WorldBoston provides a staging ground for issues-focused forums, one-on-one dialog, networking and personal and professional growth for residents, businesses and institutions of Greater Boston and around the globe.
FEATURES Corporate Member Spotlight A Fond Adieu, a Well-Deserved Promotion and a Warm Welcome The WorldBoston Wish List World Affairs A Call for Recipes Emerging Leaders Special Thanks Contact Us
CORPORATE MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
American Express Financial Advisors
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A Fond Adieu, a Well-Deserved Promotion and a Warm Welcome Brandie
E. Conforti, Executive Director As we emerge from a very busy Spring and look toward an even busier Summer, I would like to announce some staffing changes at WorldBoston – a departure, a promotion and a new staff member. Departure. It is with much sadness that I announce the departure of long-time World Affairs/WorldBoston employee Elizabeth Streiff. Elizabeth has been a fixture within our organization and her name has been synonymous with the high-quality public education programming in international affairs offered by the former World Affairs Council of Boston and now the World Affairs program within WorldBoston. Elizabeth’s skill, dedication, creativity and deep understanding of the intricacies of foreign policy have made her indispensable to the organization. Elizabeth began working at the Council as an intern from Stonehill College. She went on to become a full-time employee and for three years excelled at every task in which she was involved. Today, the World Affairs program is stronger than ever, thanks in large part to Elizabeth’s talents, organizational skills and “can-do-it” attitude. Elizabeth’s departure is bittersweet, but she is leaving in order to take advantage of a fantastic opportunity. Elizabeth was accepted in April to Georgetown University’s elite Security Studies Program within the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. As of August 1 she will depart WorldBoston and relocate to Washington, D.C. I believe that I speak for everyone involved with WorldBoston when I say that we will miss Elizabeth not only as a colleague but also as a friend. We wish Elizabeth much continued success in her new endeavor and extend many thanks for her years of service. Promotion. I take great pleasure in announcing the promotion of Natasha Palmroth to the position of Director, Emerging Leaders. Natasha joined WorldBoston in April 2002 as Director of Community Connections. She not only quickly acclimated to the position, but also began to immediately make vast improvements to the program. Her intense and thorough work has raised the bar for excellence in project management at WorldBoston. In addition, she was instrumental in helping WorldBoston secure its fifth year of funding for Community Connections. We now look forward to Natasha’s applying her many skills to further develop and strengthen the Emerging Leaders program! New Arrival. Lastly, I would like to announce the July arrival of Julie Harmon, our new Community Connections Project Associate. Julie is a graduate of Connecticut College, where she earned a B.A. degree in International Relations and minored in Russian and Eastern European Studies, which resulted in her developing an excellent Russian language capability. Julie also spent a semester abroad at the International University in Moscow. We are very excited that Julie has decided to join our team and look forward to her making excellent contributions to the entire organization! I hope you will have an opportunity to congratulate all of these dedicated staff.
Check Our Website. We are continually updating the WorldBoston website to keep you informed about our programs, upcoming events and visitors, and to make it easier for you to contact us. Please check out our website regularly.
THE WORLDBOSTON WISH LIST We hope that you will consider making a donation to WorldBoston. Please visit our website and click on Give a Gift to see the kinds of activities your gift will support, as well as a donation form. Other things on our Wish List are: * Volunteer part-time bookkeeper * Volunteer part-time computer consultant * Color printer (PC compatible, 14ppm color; installation software must be included) * Event sponsors and space
If you are able to donate your time or a top-quality color printer, or are interested in event sponsorship, please contact Brandie Conforti (phone: 617-542-8995, ext. 103; email: bconforti@worldboston.org). WORLD AFFAIRS Elizabeth J. Streiff, Director, World Affairs
World Affairs strives to educate, inform and foster understanding of international affairs; and to provide accessibility for the general public to participate in the discussion of global issues. It is finally Summer,
which marks the end of another very successful season of Spring events in
which we once again covered topics ranging from Korean security to the war
in Iraq, from U.S.-Poland relations to a review of U.S. diplomacy, and on
June 24 a panel discussion on “International Health
Challenges.” In my opinion,
this was one of the best programs we hosted this year.
Our panel, moderated by Susan Foster (Boston University), consisted
of Arachu Castro (Partners In Health), Steve Kuo (Taipei Economic and
Cultural Representative Office) and Joia Mukherjee (Partners In Health).
We learned about the decentralizing of health services in Latin
American countries, which has led to a decrease in the general
population’s access to health care; the increasing threat that HIV/AIDS
presents to Asia; the reemergence of preventable diseases (such as polio)
and increasing drug resistance in Africa; the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and
Malaria; and many other issues. Several
journalists attended this event, including a Chinese news station.
I would like extend my appreciation to Frank Wang of the Taipei
Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Boston for his help in
organizing the event, and to Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky &
Popeo, PC, for sponsoring it. I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone I have worked with during my time at the World Affairs Council of Boston/WorldBoston. Although I would like to thank everyone individually, I could not possibly do this in just one newsletter! So, instead, I extend a sincere thank-you to all of our members, my colleagues at WorldBoston (and former colleagues at WAC), our volunteers and interns (both past and present), our Board members, the staff of the national Council, my colleagues at the myriad international organizations in Boston and everyone else with whom I have had the pleasure of working. This has been a wonderful experience. I wish my replacement the best of luck and know that he or she will get the support of all these wonderful people! For information about future events, be sure to check our website or call World Affairs (617-542-8995, ext. 112). If there are any topics that you would like us to address in the future, please send your suggestions by email to wac@worldboston.org.
A CALL FOR RECIPES WorldBoston is working on putting together an international cookbook containing a collection of recipes from previous/current international visitors, local Boston celebrities, members and other participants of our programs. We would greatly appreciate it if you, as a WorldBoston member, would contribute a recipe. At the end of the Summer we will see if we have collected enough recipes to compile the book. Please include specific preparation instructions and some information about the recipe, (e.g., where it is from, if it is a traditional holiday dish, etc.) Please e-mail your recipes to us.
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EMERGING LEADERS Kate Harvey, Director, International Visitors Natasha Palmroth, Director, Emerging Leaders
The
mission of Emerging Leaders is to engage and develop dynamic thinkers from
around the world who will drive global change in the future. It involves the administration of two United States
Department of State programs: the
International Visitor Program and Community Connections. International Visitors. You see them wandering around Beacon Hill with cameras around their necks, meandering through the Harvard University campus and contemplating “T” maps. Yes, the arrival of Summer not only brings the much-anticipated warmer weather but also scores of visitors to our city. Many of these visitors come for rest and relaxation and to enjoy the charms of Boston, but others have a different agenda. WorldBoston’s International Visitors come to Boston for a learning experience. Through a balance of open dialogue and professional exchanges, hands-on learning experience and social interaction with local hosts, the International Visitors gain a deeper understanding of their fields of interest and American institutions. Equally important, they acquire a sense of what “average” Americans are like and what is important to them. Many visitors come with preconceived notions of what life in America is like. Sometimes their perceptions change; sometimes they do not. One WorldBoston visitor recently wrote, “I confess that I (previously) believed that Americans were a cold, robotic and less human people. I’ve been very gratified to meet warm-hearted and informal people here.” Another commented, “I was (also) surprised, however, to note that in the greatest world power there are still panhandlers.” Not only do International Visitors learn through their exchanges, but they also share their views and thoughts, providing a unique opportunity for their local hosts to learn about how foreigners see America and what is important to these visitors in their home countries. In recent weeks, WorldBoston hosts David Harmon, Steve Britton, Frances Burke and Don and Liisa Kissell have met with visitors in an informal setting. These “real” exchanges are an important element to International Visitor programs, and I thank these and all of our other hosts for their time and generosity. Summer promises to bring many more interesting visitors to Boston. If you would like to become involved with International Visitors for professional meetings, social hospitality or home hosting, please contact Kate Harvey, Director of International Visitors (phone: 617-542-8995, ext. 105; email: el@worldboston.org). Be sure to check our website for up-to-date listings of our International Visitors. Community Connections. May was a busy month for WorldBoston’s Community Connections program as it welcomed our twelfth group, this time hailing from the cities of Magadan and Yakutsk in the Russian Far East. This group of eight youth advocacy professionals stayed for three weeks and left an indelible mark on Boston, thanks to their great enthusiasm and desire to learn as much as possible during their time here. The group’s days were filled with meetings with professional counterparts in which they learned about many youth programs around the City of Boston as well as the role of the government in youth affairs. One such meeting was with The Home for Little Wanderers, which arranged a full afternoon visit for the group. After meeting with the leaders of the organization at its Boston-based headquarters in order to gain an overview of the numerous programs and services that are offered to youths, the group visited the Orchard School and Home, a residential school run by The Home for Little Wanderers in Watertown, MA. While there, the group learned first hand about the operations of this facility for troubled youths. A highlight of the visit was a guided tour of the school and home by two students, a privilege given to these students for their good behavior. Not only did the group get to interact with the two boys and learn how they felt about the school and home, but the tour guides were also able to learn a little about another culture and ask questions of the group. The group enjoyed seeing the school from the students’ perspective, and especially their interactions with them. During its free time, the group toured Boston’s many historic and cultural sites, visited New York City and, of course, spent time with their host families. The group spent its last night in Boston with its host families and the WorldBoston staff, enjoying a farewell dinner hosted by WorldBoston at Legal Sea Foods. It was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to discuss their time together and get to know each other better. Be sure to check our website to see some photographs from this group’s visit to the United States. We would like to thank the following organizations for giving their time to meet with this group of youth advocacy professionals: Massachusetts Department of Social Services • Harvard University Children’s Initiative • Justice Resource Institute • City of Boston - Centers for Youth and Families • Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office • Mission Safe • Massachusetts Juvenile Courts • City Year • Big Sister Association of Greater Boston • Youth Vote Coalition • Museum of Fine Arts • Boston Public Library • ReadBoston • Boston Children’s Hospital • The Guidance Center • Bridge Over Troubled Water • Boston Center for the Arts • Boys and Girls Club of Greater Boston • Simmons College - Graduate Program in Education • Home for Little Wanderers • Massachusetts Department of Education • US Fund for UNICEF • The Boston Foundation
In the upcoming grant cycle of the Community Connections program, WorldBoston will be welcoming to Boston three groups, one each from Vinnytsia, Ukraine; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Astana, Kazakhstan. Please check our website regularly for updated information on these groups and to get up-to-date information on Community Connections.
If you are interested in learning more about Community Connections or in becoming a homestay host or business host for our visiting professionals, please contact Natasha Palmroth, Director of Emerging Leaders (phone: 617-542-8995, ext. 104; email: el@worldboston.org). The Community Connections youth advocacy group and their business hosts at the South Boston Clubhouse of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Boston. SPECIAL THANKS The staff of WorldBoston would like to extend a special thanks to our Spring 2003 interns:
Shannon Brown (Boston University) Julia Catron (Boston University) Jessica Labrencis (Stonehill College) Lea Pilitsis (Stonehill College) Andrew Raynor (Boston University)
Without the help of our interns and volunteers we would not be able to produce the work we do. Thanks and congratulations to all of them on their graduation!
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