Volunteer

Serve as a Professional Resource

Take a look at our newsletter the first week of each month to see if your professional expertise aligns with an upcoming visitors or groups; we'd love to help you both make a professional connection and create a new partnership.

Host a "Dinner Diplomacy" Event

Engage

Some visiting delegations are here for a shorter time, and you can engage with them by hosting them for a meal at your home. These Dinner Diplomacy events are an opportunity for international visitors participating in the International Visitor Leadership Program to interact with Americans in an informal setting.

Learn

Hosting visitors in your home allows you to meet distinguished visitors from all over the world and to learn more about their country, its culture, and their fields of professional expertise. Dinner Diplomacy can take various forms, from brunch to afternoon tea to a sit-down dinner.

Dinner Diplomacy does not need to be elaborate or expensive, it is about the cultural experience of human interaction. Exchange is often more candid in an informal setting - feel free to engage openly with the visitors to learn about their cultures, careers, etc.!

[The two international visitors] were the most gracious guests imaginable. Conversation ranged over our lives and work, families, travels, how the two got involved with your program, etc... Indeed, Judy and I learned a ton about Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, two places about which, like most Americans, we knew little, though I do read and watch French media. Mali is no longer a place that I associate mainly with civil war. And I will long remember [one of the visitors'] explanation of some of the ironic effects of colonialism in Côte d'Ivoire, lik exporting home-grown cocoa to Europe and importing Asian rice for local comsumption. The evening ended with quick snapshots and such touching gifts from our new friends that Judy and I were embarrassed. The gifts are being fondly worn and displayed and discussed with friends and family. These two charming and kind visitors brightened our [meal] tremendously.

-Judy and Jeff Don
Dinner Diplomacy Hosts, Plymouth, MA

[In recent days, for some reason, my thoughts have returned to 2019, when I was lucky enough to visit you. They say that one of the most important values in life are the people's memory and events that influenced or left a mark on your soul.

That visit remained in my memory thanks to the hospitality, warmth and cordiality with which you met our group on Thanksgiving Day! It was very unusual to note how you agreed to share your family holiday with strangers. Thanks to you, this made me reconsider my views on Americans, who seemed to me to be more business-oriented, purposeful people, and not at all family-oriented. This is, in a good way, surprising and unusual, because the modern world pushes a person towards selfishness and atomization. Sincerity and kindness are in short supply now. On this day I want to thank you for the memory that I will have about that festive evening in 2019...

-Ivan Kaparulin
IVLP Participant, 2019, Kyiv, Ukraine

For more information about how to serve as a professional resource or host a Dinner Diplomacy event, please subscribe to our newsletter.

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