Dear Friends,
October means a lot in Boston, from beautiful fall colors to the Head of the Charles Regatta (back this month, along with the rescheduled Boston Marathon) to the annual bubbling city-wide brew of excellent events and meetings.
For our community, October especially means the Annual WorldBoston Consuls Reception, honoring the Consular Corps serving Boston and New England. Now in its 12th year, the event is always a special opportunity to connect with internationally-minded leaders in our region, network with friends old and new, and raise critically-needed support for the WorldBoston mission. As it was last year, this year’s event will be virtual, due to the pandemic.
There is still time to register for and to sponsor this event! Below you’ll see our sponsors thus far — including some wonderful new supporters. Many thanks to all our supporters.
Everyone misses the energy of our traditional live event, going virtual has made us reflect on the focus of the event: Diplomacy. Throughout the pandemic, our local diplomats have been hard at work, experiencing the isolation we all did, and the frustrations of conducting vital and often highly-nuanced business virtually. So in this pandemic time, it’s particularly appropriate to salute the work of our consular friends. Please join us on October 27th for the 12th Annual Consuls Reception and our Toast to Diplomacy!
Below you can learn more about the event and sponsors, as well as an array of updates on our programs and organization.
We hope to see you soon.
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Mary P. Yntema
President & CEO
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Help WorldBoston bring the world to you!
As a non-profit organization, WorldBoston relies on the generosity and support of members, donors, and sponsors to accomplish our mission: foster engagement in international affairs and cooperation between people of all nations.
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October is all about the Consular Corps!
On October 27th, WorldBoston will host our 12th Annual Consuls Reception. This year, we are delighted to feature keynote speaker Kathleen Theoharides, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Following her remarks, we will raise our glasses for the “Toast to Diplomacy,” and Consuls General will lead breakout rooms to highlight the local-international sustainability dynamic. Join us to learn, network, and celebrate!
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Thank you to our sponsors who have already pledged!
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*New sponsors since 2020 are marked with an asterisk.
There’s still time to join this list! Please email Mary Yntema and Natalie Mase if you are interested in sponsoring WorldBoston.
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WorldBoston celebrates the persistent work of Boston’s local diplomatic and representative corps. In the “Corner” we note recent arrivals and departures of senior members. Colleagues in the Corps – please contact Natalie Mase if you have a recent item to report!
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Challenging China: Smart Strategies for Dealing with China in the Xi Jinping Era is a popular current events explanation of how China has become more authoritarian and expansionist, and what strategies the U.S. and its allies need to adopt to address this new China. Although delving into serious issues, Challenging China is written in an engaging way and is probably the only book on China that references Dolly Parton, LeBron James, and Bruce Springsteen.
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Sam Kaplan has worked with and in China and written about it for thirty plus years in a variety of business, policy, and education roles. Currently he is director of the rather long-windedly named Center of Excellence for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management. As president of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, Sam organized numerous trade and business missions to China and hosted countless delegations, business people, government officials, and others from China.
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How does the evolving U.S.-China relationship impact the country, the state, and our communities? From supply chains to national security, new technologies to climate change, the future of both countries will be determined by their relations with one another and the global community.
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Join WorldBoston and Suffolk University during the annual CHINA Town Hall program for a discussion of these topics and more. The event will begin with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations’ nation-wide broadcast featuring Fareed Zakaria, CNN Worldwide host and columnist for The Washington Post, in discussion with NCUSCR’s Stephen Orlins. Following the broadcast, participants will have the opportunity for Q&A with The Rosenberg Institute’s Ronald Suleski.
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Our What in the World? weekly quiz is a collection of 10 questions designed to test your knowledge of international affairs and current events. Every week on Monday, a new quiz is posted on our Twitter,Facebook, and Instagram stories. If you would like to receive the quiz by email, please contact Natalie Mase to be added to our What in the World? mailing list. The quiz can also always be found in WorldBoston Recommends, our weekly Friday newsletter.
Trivia Trail-Blazers
Congratulations to the top scorers for this month! They got nearly every question right on all quizzes. Our high scorers are:
- Peter Sharadin
- Terry Quist
- Gabe Adugna
- George King
- Laura Dziorny
- Nancy Graham
- Ellen Terry
- Tom Ebling
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Monthly Prize Winner
When you take What in the World?, you are automatically entered into a raffle to win exclusive prizes. The more questions you get right, the better your odds are of winning. This month’s prize winner is:
Erika Filter
Miss Something?
If you missed a quiz or would like to retake one, click on the links below.
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Registration for the WACA 2021 National Conference is open!For nearly four decades, the WACA National Conference has brought World Affairs Council leaders, members, and friends to engage with top government officials, diplomats, business executives, innovators, journalists, educators, and students on the most pressing global issues and policy choices that impact our lives.
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October is busy for our Citizen Diplomacy Programs, with programs continuing, returning, and beginning. As usual, we look forward to welcoming several groups of visitors with the IVLP. For Custom Visitor Programs, we are delighted to work on a new project, the Russian Business Leaders Program, and to return to the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative.
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The U.S. Department of State announced a continued hold on in-person exchange programming for the IVLP through March 2022. We remain committed to welcoming virtual delegations to our community, and we continue to thank all of our local citizen diplomats for joining us in this endeavor. Here’s who is “visiting” in October:
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Regional Project for Europe
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We are looking for new ideas for virtual cultural activities, especially seasonal options. If you have any, please contact our VP for Citizen Diplomacy, Sarah Sibley.
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The point of contact for this project is Josh Bruno, Manager of Citizen Diplomacy Programs. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to him if you’re interested, or if you have any questions
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WorldBoston has again been selected as a Cohort Ambassador for the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) in 2022! This is our fourth year, having previously held the role in 2017, 2018, and 2021. YLAI is State’s flagship program for emerging entrepreneurs and business leaders from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada. They will participate in a month-long, in-person fellowship, beginning in June 2022. WorldBoston will work with its network (you!) to help find placements for fellows, as well as create programming to enrich their Boston experience and supplement their learning of business concepts and entrepreneurship strategies. We are very excited to be a part of this program once again!
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Contact Josh Bruno, Manager of Citizen Diplomacy Programs, to learn more.
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We are delighted to welcome two new faces to the WorldBoston community. Nam Phamjoins us as a member of the WorldBoston board of directors, and Rafal Fryc joins us as our Citizen Diplomacy Intern.
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In 2015, Nam Pham joined the Baker/Polito Administration, as Assistant Secretary of Business Development & International Trade, the first Asian American gubernatorial appointee at this level in Massachusetts. He oversaw the Mass. Film Office, Mass. Office of Business Development, Mass. Office of Travel and Tourism, Mass. Sport Marketing Office, and Mass. Office of International Trade & Investment. Since February 2020, he has served as Director of the Office of Real Estate & Asset Management, Department of Transportation.
Nam was the CEO of Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Inc. (VietAID) from 2011-2015, the first Vietnamese community corporation in the US. Nam was also a banking executive, working for more than 20 years in both international commercial banks and premier community banks.
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From 1994 to 2000, Nam was the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants. He also taught at Tufts University on the Vietnam War and U.S. refugee and immigration policy.
Nam has served on numerous boards. He cofounded Van Lang Vietnamese Language Centers in Boston, serving 400 youths per year for the past 25 years. Currently, he is a founding board member of Massachusetts Asian American Political Action Committee and the Boston Police Foundation. From 2015-2020, he chaired both the Boards of Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, and MassVentures, a quasi-public venture capital firm. He created and hosted a Vietnamese-English TV cable show for Boston between 2010 and 2015.
Nam earned his BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, and an MPA in Political Economy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
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In September, we welcomed Rafal Fryc as our Citizen Diplomacy Intern. Rafal is a student at Suffolk University, where he studies international relations, economics, and international business. Rafal provides excellent support to our Custom Visitor Programs, and we look forward to working with him in the coming months.
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Missed any of our recent events? You can find video recordings of our events on our YouTube channel! Below are links to recent events:
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Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for updates!
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You are able to contribute to WorldBoston at no additional cost to you! If you shop at Amazon through this link or the AmazonSmile logo to the right, a portion of your purchase will be donated to WorldBoston. Bookmark our page today.
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Welcome to last month’s new and returning WorldBoston members: Ivor Cary Armistead, Fay Donohue, Claudia Evans, Nathan Farge, Thomas Faulhaber, Brodie Henry, Jeanne Hoerter, John Maconga, Robert Maxmen, Michael Pizziferri, Alan Schwartz, Eve Sullivan, Charles White, and Deborah White. Thank you, we appreciate your support!
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Check your inbox every Friday for WorldBoston Recommends – our staff picks for high-quality virtual programs on global topics in the coming week.
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Your name here?
Learn more here about how to join these sponsors in supporting the WorldBoston mission.
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Wait, Did You Miss Something?
Don’t forget to check our News section for announcements and past newsletters.
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The International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program and WorldBoston’s main citizen diplomacy partner. Launched in 1940, the IVLP is a professional exchange program that seeks to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations through carefully designed short-term visits to the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders. These visits reflect the International Visitors’ professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the United States.
The U.S. Department of State’s bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administers the IVLP. In doing so, the bureau enters cooperative agreements with National Program Agencies, a group of private, not-for-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C., that design and implement national IVLP itineraries. In addition to the National Program Agencies, the IVLP relies on the commitment and skills of local community organizations across the U.S., known as Community Based Members (CBMs). Under the professional association of Global Ties U.S., local CBM members develop professional programs, arrange cultural activities, and provide home hospitality for international visitors.
WorldBoston is part of the Global Ties Network of more than 90 CBMs in 45 states.
WorldBoston is a member of the World Affairs Councils of America,
a network of more than 90 independent Councils in more than 40 states.
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