- Salute to the Consular Corps Tradition Continues -

May 27, 2011

Funding for the organization has always been primarily from the local community. Mills B. Lane, president of Citizens & Southern Bank, was an early supporter encouraging the Trust Company and First National Bank to donate funds also. He convinced the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to provide seed money for many years as well. Other early corporate supporters were The Coca-Cola Company, Georgia International Life Insurance Co., Pan American Airways, Retail Credit (now Equifax) and Scientific Atlanta.

In 1981 Elaine Hayes chaired the first of a series of fundraising dinner dances. These developed into an annual Salute honoring a different country each year with the Ambassador of that country invited from Washington and most of the Atlanta international community in attendance. GCIV worked with local consuls of the honored countries and there were often trades shows, cultural exhibits and educational programs as well as the formal event. These fundraising galas evolved into an annual Salute to the Consular Corps, the first of which was held in 1998. 

From 1988-1998, the U.S. Information Agency, which took over the International Visitor Program from the State Department, made funds available on an annual grant basis to local community organizations. GCIV applied for and received about 10% of its yearly budget from this source during that time. For many years GCIV received funding from the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, now discontinued due to budget cuts. In 1972 the State of Georgia began providing funds through the Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism and in 1998 GCIV received about 15% of its budget from that source, working closely with that department to send visitors around the state, meeting with community leaders, business people and local media. Smaller towns and communities around Georgia, less used to international visitors than Atlanta, really rolled out the red carpet for these visitors and gladly showed them a different point of view of life in the South.

- 50 Years of Significance in Citizen Diplomacy -

April 29, 2011

This blog post continues our retrospective. Please be a part of our 50th anniversary celebration in 2012 by leaving comments about your GCIV memories, reasons for hosting, and beliefs about the impact of our shared work.

In 1973, the Atlanta Committee for International Visitors (ACIV) and the Atlanta International Student Bureau (AISB) were merged under the leadership of Lloyd Whitaker, president of ACIV, and Ida Bell, chairman of AISB. Faye McKay-Clegg, executive director of AISB, became the executive director of the newly combined organization, holding that position until 1990 when she retired. In 1975, Dr. Fahed Abu Akel’s Atlanta Ministry to International Students (AMIS), located at First Presbyterian Church, took over student activities and hospitality. Anne Hansen, an ACIV volunteer since 1970, served as executive director until 1995, followed by Carol Emmons.

Some of the highlights through the years include a visit from Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1964 who met with the executive committee of ACIV’s board, a regional conference in 1965 sponsored by ACIV to encourage other southern cities to become COSERV contacts, an impressive 1,295 visitors hosted in the year of 1965, merger with the Atlanta International Student Bureau in 1973, providing host families for the delegates to the first Organization of American States to be held outside Washington, D.C. when Jimmy Carter was governor, name change to the Georgia Council for International Visitors in 1986, and becoming the statewide coordinating office for the Great Decisions program in 1994.

Another memorable event in GCIV’s history was a trip to The People’s Republic of China led by volunteer Anne Hansen. A group of 22 GCIV volunteers, in the year following Mao Tse Tung’s death, got permission to visit the newly-opened China and in October 1977 toured Nanjing, Shanghai, Guelin and Canton. Westerners were a novelty then and the Chinese, still clothed in Mao-style gray jackets and pants, stared in amazement as the group made its way around the crowded streets of the country.

- “Atlanta, a City Built in a Forest” -

March 31, 2011

This blog post continues our retrospective. Please be a part of our 50th anniversary celebration in 2012 by leaving comments about your GCIV memories, your reasons for hosting, and your beliefs about the impact of our shared work.

The services provided to the international visitors from the beginning to the present day have remained the same: to supply a written program upon arrival with appointments fulfilling the objectives of the visitor, to arrange hotels and transportation as needed, to set up home visits with our host volunteers and to give as broad and balanced a look at Atlanta and Georgia and our culture as possible in the limited time a visitor or group was here.

It was one of our visitors who coined the phrase “Atlanta, a city built in a forest” while being interviewed by Hugh Parks, a columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who repeated the description in his newspaper column.

Marge and Dan McDonald recall entertaining an early group of Russian visitors in their home who were fascinated by all the electric gadgets and modern conveniences in the kitchen and enjoyed exploring their house from top to bottom. Recent visitors are much more sophisticated and demanding in their requests, wanting in-depth presentations rather than general overviews.

The host volunteers have changed as well over the 35 years since Atlanta Committee for International Visitors (ACIV) was founded (this history was compiled by Anne Hansen in 1998). In the beginning most volunteer hosts welcomed the visitors into their homes to show Southern hospitality to strangers and to learn about other cultures and distant lands. Now most hosts have traveled or lived abroad and want to practice their second language skills or continue a genuine interest in foreign affairs.

At the instigation of the Institute for International Education in Houston, the Atlanta International Student Bureau (AISB) was established in 1962 by the Atlanta Junior League under the leadership of Margaret Perdue and Connie Calhoun, then employed at the YWCA. Garland Davies was chairman of the junior League Task Force who assessed the needs of international students in metro Atlanta and recommended that an organization serving the international student population be formed. She served as chairman of AISB for the first three years and started the English classes for wives of the students. The AISB was later affiliated with the Institute for International Education office in Atlanta in the late 60s and continued matching international students at the various colleges and universities with host families. Many host families were volunteers with both AISB and ACIV.

Ada Almering, a volunteer English teacher for six years, recalls, “Most of the students were wives of international students, but there were also consular wives, chefs’ wives and foreign businessmen’s wives. In all they were fascinating women.” The classes were taught on three levels on Mondays and Thursdays first at North Avenue Presbyterian Church and later moved to First Presbyterian Church.

Gloria Stone, an early volunteer member of both ACIV and the International Women Associates wrote, “When I came to Atlanta from New York state in 1953 I was treated like an unwanted intruder – just because I came from a northern state! Anyone who came from another country might just as well come from Mars. A foreign language implied you were too stupid to speak English. A year or so after the Atlanta Council for International Visitors was founded I heard about it and immediately joined. I have been a member ever since and have thoroughly enjoyed entertaining visitors from all over the world. I truly believe organizations such as ours have had a tremendous impact and were very influential in bringing down the Iron Curtain.”

- GCIV in the Era of Civil Rights: A continuation of GCIV’s history. -

March 1, 2011

The new Atlanta organization, incorporated in 1963, operated out of the Haas back bedroom for about two years before moving to the Atlanta Biltmore Hotel and hiring its first staff person, Marion Eden. Host volunteers and resources were quickly developed to respond to visitor requests and within several years the organization began receiving more than 1,000 visitors a year. The focus of interest in the 60s was civil rights and visitors came to Atlanta to meet the leaders of the movement. Other early visitors were the international military personnel stationed at Ft. Benning, Maxwell Air Force Base, Huntsville and Ft. Rucker. City tours and hospitality were arranged by Mamie Taylor, a retired secretary from Georgia Power, who recruited many recently retired friends as volunteers who brought their organizational skills and office expertise with them. The African-American community was involved from the beginning as host volunteers and board members such as Grace Hamilton, Johnny Yancey and Freddye Henderson as well as faculty members Dr. Hilliard Bowen and Dr. Ed Jones and others from the Atlanta University complex. This cooperation between the African-American community and those from the white community is one of the first examples of integrated effort in the city which in the 60s was going through a racial adjustment period.

Betty Haas tells of working out an agreement with the Atlanta Biltmore Hotel to accommodate all the international visitors, including Africans, and this was instrumental in integrating that hotel in the early 60s. She also tells of arranging for a group of young West African leaders to be served at a cafeteria across the street from the hotel, only to have them refused service when their white escort interpreters sat at the same table.

Harry and Billie Pfiffner, longtime GCIV volunteers, would often take visitors to the Hungry Club meeting at the downtown Butler Street YMCA. The Hungry Club, made up of leadership from the black community, had weekly speakers of civic interest and was one of the earliest integrated meeting places at the beginning of the civil rights movement.

- GCIV Remembers Two Key Leaders -

January 27, 2011

We are in the midst of an exciting time for GCIV. With our 50^th Anniversary just around the corner in 2012, we are celebrating our past 50 years of citizen diplomacy and paving the way for the next half century.

As we prepare to celebrate 50 years of citizen diplomacy in Georgia, we’ll publish excerpts from GCIV’s history prepared by former executive director Anne Hansen. We invite our members and friends to leave comments and share their memories with us through the pages of this blog.

We must also begin by honoring the memories of two visionary community leaders who were instrumental in GCIV’s founding:  Betty Haas and Edith Elsas. Both of these extraordinary women passed away in December of last year.

Before Atlanta began calling itself the next great international city, long before international flights began arriving at Hartsfield Airport (now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport), and years before Billy Payne dreamed of the world coming to Atlanta for the Olympics, there was an organization bringing hundreds of international visitors each year to our city from all over the world. Now known as the Georgia Council for International Visitors, the organization began in August 1962 as a volunteer effort operating out of a back bedroom.

The International Visitor Leadership Program, under the auspices of the U.S. State Department, began bringing invited guests to the United States at the end of World War II. Most of these visitors were in mid-career and were chosen as future leaders in their respective fields.  More than 144 (now 250 and counting!) of these men and women eventually became presidents or prime ministers of their countries.  Such leaders as Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Anwar Sadat and Willie Brandt participated in the program early in their careers. Others became leaders in the fields of education, business, medicine or the arts. While in the US they met with government officials in Washington and then toured cities and communities around the country meeting with their counterparts, learning about various community organizations and activities and being entertained by volunteer hosts. A national organization was founded called the National Council for Community Services to International Visitors (COSERV), later changed to the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV). COSERV began contacting World Affairs Councils, Chambers of Commerce and other local volunteer organizations in many parts of the country that might be willing to receive and coordinate the visits of these international visitors within their communities.

In 1962 COSERV wanted to establish a contact in Atlanta to receive visitors interested in the Civil Rights Movement. Betty Haas was called by a relative, Catherine Bang, from Cleveland who was involved with the World Affairs Council there, which was already a COSERV agency. It was arranged that Lorinne Emery of the Dallas Committee for International Visitors, another COSERV agency, would come to Atlanta with one of her volunteers, who was the wife of the editor of the Dallas newspaper, to speak to a group of interested community volunteers.  Betty Haas gathered together a group of friends, members of the World Fellowship Committee of the YWCA, the International Committee of the AAUW and other church and civic groups. Among those attending the first meetings were Edith Elsas, Connie Calhoun and Paula Bevington.  Julia Martin and Edith Elsas both hosted later meetings at which plans were solidified for an organization. From this core of volunteers the Atlanta Committee for International Visitors was founded with Betty Haas as the first president. Soon after organization the Committee invited representatives from the African-American community to become involved as volunteer hosts, board members and resources.

Betty Haas went on to serve on the national board of COSERV from 1963 to 1966, with Pat Mutzberg following her on the board and becoming COSERV President in the early ‘70s. Subsequent national board members from Atlanta have been Faye McKay-Clegg and Sonjia Young. COSERV became the National Council for International Visitors and now has more than 100 member councils around the U.S.

Betty Geismer Haas died peacefully in her sleep at home on December 3, 2010. She was 97. Betty Geismer grew up in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated with honors from Wellesley College in 1935. Upon graduation she attended Western Reserve Law School and in 1936 she married Joseph Haas of Atlanta, whom she met in Boston, when he attended Harvard Law School. After moving to Atlanta, Betty shared her love of education as a teacher, tutor and nursery school founder. Additionally, she earned a broker’s license later in life. She was an athlete and The Standard Club golf champion at age 50. In Atlanta, Betty practiced her hobby of farming on 26 acres near Chastain Park. When the farm was sold in 1959, she founded the Atlanta Committee for International Visitors (ACIV), now the Georgia Council for International Visitors (GCIV), which continues to host representatives from around the world. Among ACIV’s guests were diplomats from African countries, and at Betty’s insistence, Atlanta hotels integrated to accommodate the guests and their hosts. Click here to read Betty Haas’ full obituary.

Carol Emmons, GCIV’s executive director from 1995 to 1999 recalls Betty Haas as someone always ready to offer encouragement. “I remember my first board meeting as executive director. At that time Betty was serving on GCIV’s International Advisory Board. I was a little nervous and I distinctly remember Betty’s welcoming smile and little pat of encouragement. She had a way of making everyone feel welcome.”

Edith Levy Elsas died peacefully at home on December 24, 2010, surrounded by her loving children, grandchildren, friends and caregivers. Three institutions which were special to her, and to which she gave time, effort and consideration were Wellesley College, Emory University, and the Atlanta Committee for International Visitors (ACIV). Many generations of Wellesley graduates recall her as a hostess and admissions resource. Wellesley teas at her home were legendary, and over the decades, she served as an advisor to Wellesley search committees, admissions committees, and scholarship and awards committees. At Emory University, she established the Albert E. Levy Faculty Research Award and the Herbert R. Elsas Reading Room in the Law Library in memory of her father and husband, respectively. She supported law, music, art, and medicine, while serving on the Emory University Board of Visitors.  Many believe that her efforts on behalf of the ACIV helped lay the foundation for Atlanta’s successful bid for the 1996 Olympics. Click here to read Edith Elsas’ full obituary.

Ada Almering, GCIV Lifetime Member and long-time friend of Edith Elsas, tells us more, “Edith had a million dollar smile. You were always looking forward to seeing that smile, and she never disappointed.  Anyone who knew her was entranced by her. Whenever you were invited to anything at Edith’s house, you knew it was going to be fun.  The truth is that I have met most of my pals through my association with ACIV/GCIV. I treasure my association with this organization.” For at least twenty-five years, Edith Elsas hosted the International Women Associates’ May Coffee in her beautiful home on West Paces Ferry.

Information for this article has been reprinted from GCIV archives and history prepared by Anne Hansen, as well as obituaries appearing in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

- Atlanta Voted Top 2011 Destination –

December 23, 2010

Atlanta was voted one of the top destinations for 2011 by the renowned travel experts at Frommer’s.  This list is compiled annually by Frommer’s editors, authors, and experts from around the world.

Here’s why Atlanta was selected:

-Arthur Frommer’s Life Lessons Through Travel-

December 1, 2010

Dick George, GCIV representative in Macon, recently pointed out in a discussion about citizen diplomacy that Arthur Frommer’s “Life Lessons: What I’ve learned from 40 years of traveling the globe” are as timely today as they were when first published nearly 25 years ago. George says, “These lessons are so applicable to our roles in hosting international visitors as well as being empathetic citizen ambassadors when we travel.” Read Arthur Frommer’s life lessons below and and leave your own comments about citizen diplomacy.

LIFE LESSONS: What I’ve learned from 40 years of traveling the globe
By Arthur Frommer

To a hundred countries and over millions of miles, I’ve traveled for some 40 years, and now I am a changed person because of it. On every trip to everywhere, just being in unfamiliar surroundings, among new and different people, alters one’s consciousness and creates new beliefs–like these:

We are all alike.

I am in the dark, dung hut of a Masai family in eastern Africa. Through an interpreter, the woman of the house tells me that she hopes to learn to read. And why? So that she can study a handbook on raising children. I am sitting cross-legged on a tatami mat in the apartment of a young Japanese couple. Their daughter, they tell me, is complaining about the harshness of her first-grade teacher. I am aboard a houseboat on the Nile. The owner is enthusing about a recent film.

Travel has taught me that, despite differences in dress and language and condition, all the world’s people are essentially alike. We have the same urges and concerns; we yearn for the same things. And those who patronize others or regard them as funny or backward are foolish indeed; they have not yet learned the lessons of travel.

We all think ourselves virtuous.

At the bar of an Amsterdam cafe I am talking with a Dutch friend. Last night, he tells me, a nationwide telethon raised the equivalent of some 80 million dollars for cancer research. “Only in Holland,” he says, “would there be such an outpouring.” We all consider ourselves the best; we all believe in the superiority of our own country and culture. How many times have you heard politicians proclaim this or that nation to be the finest on earth? Travel rids you of that smug chauvinism; it exposes you to the finest in every land and makes you distinctly uneasy when you later return home and hear people proclaiming their own nation to be better than others.

We are responsible for one another.

It is the early 1980s. Dancing down a broad boulevard in Zagreb is a succession of laughing, gaily clad groups gathered there for a festival of Yugoslavia’s national folk dances. From the curb, I watch Muslims and Christians, Bosnians, Croatians, and Serbs, celebrating in complete harmony. Now, years later, and because of travel, I remember them as distinct human presences, not as abstractions; I get almost physically ill when I read of the violence among them. I feel the same intimate bond with the Protestants and Catholics of Northern Ireland, whose cities I visited at the height of the Troubles, and with the people of both Egypt and Israel, where I once led groups of tourists. Travel makes it impossible to ignore the sufferings of others simply because they are far away; it erases distance and transforms you into a more sensitive citizen of the world, the only kind of person who can contribute to peace.

We grow when we confront our opposites.

I am at a residential yoga community in Lenox, Massachusetts, trying to open my mind to nonlinear thinking. And though the guru’s speech is at odds with my usual rationalism, I find myself enjoying it and savoring this clash of new ideas. I am visiting a Danish “folk high school” for adults. And though my middle-aged dignity is offended, I join in the breakfast song called “We Greet the Dawn” and find myself feeling less repressed, more open, than I’ve been in decades. I am at a personal-growth center on the West Coast, in a class of encounter therapy, where I am told that I must clasp hands with the elderly gentleman opposite me, look deeply into his eyes, wish him well, and give him a bear hug. While I am initially loath to do so, I then feel a surge of shame at being so emotionally controlled that I cannot offer sympathy and succor to a fellow human being. Travel exposes you to ideas, lifestyles, theologies, and philosophies that challenge your most cherished beliefs. It takes you out of a setting in which everyone thinks the same and sends you into the unknown, to your opposites, your presumed adversaries. You rethink your assumptions; your horizons expand; your life takes on new dimensions.

There is no single solution for human problems.

I am walking the streets of Hong Kong, past signs for herbal medicines and acupuncturists, and all around are millions of people perfectly content with these approaches to personal health, so different from our own. I am lying in a copper bathtub filled with naturally carbonated water in a bathing establishment in the Belgian city of Spa. And though my mind tells me that, scientifically speaking, water cures are rubbish, I feel something happening to my body and suspect that the 300 million Europeans who embrace such remedies may not be as wrongheaded as our own medical establishment would have us believe. I go to countries like Holland, where people by law may not be fired from their jobs, and to my astonishment meet wealthy conservatives who staunchly defend this prohibition. Travel reveals a whole range of unusual practices that may succeed in differing contexts; it suggests new approaches for your own society and keeps you receptive to novel proposals and experiments in every field.

All people should be “minorities.”

I walk the great cities of China and gradually realize that, in their midst, I am part of a minority in much the same way that others are of minorities in the city where I live. I stroll a great plaza in Nairobi, where I am in a minority. I experience the same, illuminating impressions and insights over dozens of years and in hundreds of locations in Asia and Africa and India. Like many other travelers I feel the gradual weakening of whatever racist impulses still inhabit my subconscious. Travel teaches us that it is absurd to react to people according to their color. It makes everyone a member of a minority group on occasion. The experience changes all of us.

Travel keeps us young.

I sit on that airplane, eating execrable food, breathing stale air, feeling jet-lagged and achy, and tell myself that travel is deeply fatiguing and unnatural. And yet when I emerge in an unfamiliar airport and city, I feel challenged and alive. There is still another language to attempt, a new history to absorb, another culture to encounter. And though some of it may dismay rather than enchant, it is never uninteresting; your mind is constantly awhirl with ideas and impressions. And even when you believe you have exhausted the store of new destinations and cultures, you discover that you can enjoy them on a deeper level. I’m currently studying Italian so that I can better enjoy a country I’ve visited a hundred times.

Travel teaches us humility, the best human trait.

In the course of a long trip, I arrive at last at an English-speaking country–say, Australia-and grab for a local newspaper. Wonder of wonders, there’s not a single story in it about my own U.S. of A. Shocking and impudent, these “foreigners” dare to prefer their own concerns and matters closer to hand. We learn, through travel, that the word does not revolve around us alone, that we no longer rule the Earth, that not everyone worships our lifestyle or envies us. That kind of discovery makes us different from those puffed-up, closed-minded boosters and braggarts who sometimes dominate our public discourse. You become a quieter American and, in my opinion, a smarter and more productive one.

Travel, for many, is merely a form of recreation. But travel is now becoming recognized as education. Certainly it has a compelling effect, often greater than that of any other activity, even extensive reading. It has changed my life, and I believe that you, too, may want to reflect on how it has altered your own consciousness.

Ours is the first generation in human history to travel to other continents as easily as we once took a trolley to the next town. Dare we hope that access to a larger world will result in more understanding, in human beings more tolerant and peaceful?

© Travel Holiday and is the property of Theatre Communications Group and its content may not be copied without the copyright holder’s express written
permission except for the print or download capabilities of the retrieval
software used for access. This content is intended solely for the use of the
individual user.  Source: Travel Holiday, March 1996, Vol. 179 Issue 2,
p109, 3p, 1c.

-New York Times Article Highlights IVLP Citizen Diplomacy Efforts-

November 1, 2010

The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), which GCIV implements for the state of Georgia on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, was highlighted in a September New York Times article. The article, “Feeling Slighted by France, and Respected by the U.S.” is about the outreach efforts of the U.S. Embassy in France towards young residents in immigrant enclaves around Paris. The IVLP program is one of the embassy’s best tools for recognizing and developing promising leaders in these communities.

GCIV hosted IVLP alumni Mr. Aziz Senni, interviewed for the article, in 2006. While in Atlanta, he met with representatives from Another Way Out Inc., Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters, Hapeville Police Department, and Second Mount Vernon Baptist Church to gain a better understanding of American views on immigration, minority rights, and multi-religious coexistence. He also enjoyed home hospitality with GCIV Member Laura Gilmore and visits to the Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.

Here is a copy of “Feeling Slighted by France, and Respected by U.S.” written by Scott Sayare:

BONDY, France — The residents of this poor, multiracial Paris suburb say they have been abandoned. For 30 years, they say, the French authorities have written off Bondy and neighborhoods like it, treating their inhabitants as terminal delinquents and ignoring their potential.

This, residents note, is not the approach taken by the United States Department of State.

“We’re waiting for the president of the Republic, for his ministers,” said Gilbert Roger, the mayor of Bondy. “And we see the ambassador of the United States.”

The United States Embassy in Paris has formed a network of partnerships with local governments, advocacy groups, entrepreneurs, students and cultural leaders in the troubled immigrant enclaves outside France’s major cities.

Begun in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks as part of an effort to bolster the image of the United States within Muslim communities across the globe, American outreach in these hard neighborhoods — often referred to collectively as the “banlieues,” or suburbs — has grown in scale and visibility since the election of Barack Obama.

France is home to five million to six million Muslims, Europe’s largest Muslim population, and the banlieues have long been considered potential incubators for religious extremism. But anti-American sentiment, once pervasive in these neighborhoods, seems to have been all but erased since the election of Mr. Obama, who has proved to be a powerful symbol of hope here and a powerful diplomatic tool.

Many suggest the Americans’ warm reception is a measure of these communities’ sense of abandonment. Others say it is the presence of Mr. Obama in the White House. Whatever the case, the United States is now more popular in the banlieues than at any other time in recent memory, say French and American officials.

Much of the embassy’s outreach is meant to dispel “mistruths” about the United States, the ambassador, Charles H. Rivkin, said in an interview, adding, “It’s easier to hate something you don’t understand.”

With an annual public affairs budget of about $3 million, the Paris embassy has sponsored urban renewal projects, music festivals and conferences. Since Mr. Obama’s election, the Americans have helped organize seminars for minority politicians, coaching them in electoral strategy, fund-raising and communications.

The International Visitor Leadership Program, which sends 20 to 30 promising French entrepreneurs and politicians to America for several weeks each year, now includes more minority participants, and Muslims in particular. The embassy began a similar program for French teenagers.

Mr. Rivkin, 48, an entertainment executive and the youngest American ambassador to France in nearly 60 years, has taken a strong personal interest in the banlieues. Earlier this year, he thrilled a group of students in Bondy when he arrived with the actor Samuel L. Jackson, one of several entertainment industry contacts he has called upon in France. In Los Angeles, Mr. Rivkin cultivated ties between the family media and hip-hop worlds; in Paris, he has hosted local rappers at the Hôtel Rothschild, his official residence.

Officials insist the outreach is not meant solely to curry favor for the United States; the Americans also see an emerging group of political and business elites in these neighborhoods. The embassy is “trying to connect with the next generation of leaders in France,” Mr. Rivkin said. “That includes the banlieues.”

Few French leaders speak in such hopeful terms.

Residents “have the sense that the United States looks upon our areas with much more deference and respect,” said Mr. Roger, the Bondy mayor. For electoral reasons, he said, French politicians exaggerate the violence and criminality here.

Ministerial excursions to the banlieues often entail a crushing police presence and vows to crack down on crime. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who as interior minister famously pledged to clean up one of these cities with a “Kärcher” — a brand of high-pressure hose — typically spends his time here consulting with law enforcement officials.

Though often criticized as not serious about stemming the violence, poverty and unemployment that plague the banlieues, the French government commits $5 billion annually to these cities, according to Fadela Amara, the secretary of state for urban policy. Since 2003, she said, the state has pledged more than $16 billion to a nationwide urban reconstruction program.

Residents and local politicians say this is nowhere near enough, though they add that money alone will not solve the problems.

“Do you know what it means to give recognition in the suburbs?” asked Aziz Senni, 34, the founder of a taxi service and an investment fund dedicated to spurring economic development in the banlieues, where he was raised. “It’s worth as much as gold.”

A Moroccan-born Muslim, Mr. Senni traveled to the United States in 2006 as a participant in the visitor program. He was effusive in his praise for the outreach and the optimism it has spread. “Never has France had this type of approach,” he said.

Mr. Senni spoke of feeling “stigmatized” by French leaders. A law banning the full facial veil, a government-led “debate on national identity” and a recent proposal to revoke French nationality from certain criminals “of foreign origin” have been widely felt as attacks on immigrants and Muslims here.

“The emerging elite in the suburbs doesn’t see itself in the way it’s being treated by French society,” said Nordine Nabili, 43, who directs the new Bondy branch of a journalism school, E.S.J. Lille; he hosted Mr. Rivkin and Mr. Jackson there in April.

“You’re the future,” Mr. Jackson told the students.

Mr. Nabili said, “I don’t think people tell them that enough.” But he worries that the Americans may be raising hopes too high. Beyond good feelings, he said, “there really needs to be a true policy.”

Mr. Rivkin called such concerns unfounded. “From my vantage point, this embassy has not been peddling false dreams,” he said. “Anything is possible, if you put your mind to it and work hard enough.”

Widad Ketfi, 25, was among the students who met Mr. Rivkin and Mr. Jackson earlier this year. “We won’t be disappointed,” she insisted. The American attention is proof that “these young people are succeeding,” and that “we’re not invisible,” she said.

A Muslim born to French-Algerian parents, she acknowledged the likelihood that the Americans had reached out to her, at least in part, because of her background.

Asked if that reality left her uneasy, Ms. Ketfi replied, “What bothers me is being the target of the French state.”

-Hosting the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists-

November 1, 2009

GCIV had the distinct pleasure of partnering with the Cox Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research at the University of Georgia to implement the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists.  The Murrow Program brought one-hundred and fifty emerging leaders in the field of journalism from around the world to examine journalistic practices in the United States September 26th to October 17th, 2009.  The program is an innovative public-private partnership between the Department of State, the Aspen Institute and leading U.S. schools of journalism.

GCIV hosted a delegation of sixteen journalists representing Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.  The group came to the state of Georgia October 1-7, 2009.

Working in conjunction with U.S. journalism schools across the country, the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs developed a specialized International Visitor Leadership Program to engage young international media professionals in dialogue with their U.S. counterparts. After initial programming in Washington, D.C., the participants travel in smaller groups for academic seminars and field activities with faculty and students at one of the partner schools of journalism. The journalism schools design specialized curriculum for their international counterparts to examine journalistic principles and practices, both in the United States and around the world. The universities generously contribute their resources, time and talent to make this program possible.

The visitors also travel to contrasting American cities to gain an understanding of media coverage of state politics and government and to observe American civic life and grassroots involvement in political affairs in smaller towns. The program will conclude in New York City, with visits to major media outlets and a symposium to highlight current trends and challenges facing the media in the United States and around the world.

While in Atlanta the delegation met with representatives from the Carter Center, CNN International, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  They also had the opportunity to share a meal in the homes of local GCIV hosts.  Later the group traveled to Athens, GA, for a professional program coordinated by Dr. Tudor Vlad at the Cox Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research.  UGA arranged for a variety of seminars for them, featuring faculty and staff from the Cox Institute, Grady College of Journalism, Institute for African Studies, Red & Black Student Paper, Peabody Awards Program, and Center for International Trade & Security. They also had numerous opportunities to meet with journalism students at the school.

After leaving the state of Georgia, the delegation visited Phoenix and New York before returning home.  GCIV was honored to work with both UGA and the State Department to contribute to the success of the Murrow Program.

-GCIV International Student Hosting Program-

October 1, 2009

GCIV is pleased to announce its new and exciting international student hosting program. As another channel for citizen diplomacy, hosts have the opportunity to share their home with students and scholars from around the world while creating cross-cultural friendships and engaging in international understanding. Students are enrolled at local universities or intensive English institutes and stay anywhere from two months to a year or more.

Hosting an international student in your home can enrich you, your family, other household members and your community by providing each an opportunity to become better informed about and connected to the world beyond U.S. borders.

Hosts provide a private room and a comfortable, safe learning environment that the students can call home. Students choose a Breakfast Only or Breakfast and Dinner option. Hosts receive a stipend to cover the costs of providing a room and meals.

Host homes must be located near public transportation to universities or ESL centers. For more information and to receive an application, contact Joan Roberts at 404-832-5560 x 11.

Click here to view a program brochure. Below please find a list of participating schools.

Atlanta English Institute, Chamblee
English for Internationals, Roswell, Lawrenceville
Emory University, International Students and Scholars
ESL Instruction & Consulting, Downtown Atlanta
Georgia Institute of Technology, Language Institute
Georgia Perimeter College, ESL Department, Clarkston and Dunwoody
Georgia State University, Intensive English Program
Interactive College of Technology, Chamblee
Kennesaw State University
Mercer University, English Language Institute, Chamblee
Morehouse College
Savannah College of Art and Design
Southern Polytechnic State University, ELS Language Center, Marietta
Spelman College
Troy University, ESL Department, Dunwoody

« Previous Page

• Recent Posts

  • -Sadiq from Pakistan-
  • -Dunwoody Great Decisions Honors Rosalie FitzPatrick-
  • -Perspectives of a 2012 NCIV Emerging Leader-
  • -Testimonials of Citizen Diplomacy-
  • -Making a Difference-

• Previous Posts

  Select Month April 2012  (1) March 2012  (1) February 2012  (1) January 2012  (1) December 2011  (1) November 2011  (1) September 2011  (1) August 2011  (1) July 2011  (1) June 2011  (1) May 2011  (1) April 2011  (1) March 2011  (2) January 2011  (1) December 2010  (2) November 2010  (1) November 2009  (1) October 2009  (1) September 2009  (1)
• 
  
  

  Our Mission & Vision

  GCIV builds understanding and cooperation between the people of our state and the world. Our vision is that every Georgia citizen has the opportunity to become more globally engaged.

  Upcoming Events & Delegations

  • Wed 5/16/2012 - 5/22/2012: Thai Visitor
  • Wed 5/23/2012 - 5/26/2012: German Delegation
  • Mon 5/28/2012 - 6/1/2012: Kazakh Delegation

  Visit the GCIV Calendar
  
  
  
  

  sign up for our
  e-newsletter