Katherine speaks with Wyatt Smith of Bank of America during the lunch keynote panel at the Diplomacy Begins Here Regional Summit in Charlotte, NC. Photo credit: Jon Strayhorn
Happy Fall!
It’s finally turning cooler in Washington, DC. While I’ve slowed down my travels, the Global Ties team is busy and preparing for several upcoming events in the next few months that will bring the exchanges community together.
I write this as Hurricane Michael makes landfall in Florida, once again leaving us to think about our friends and family there—and the state’s tremendous resilience, which is the theme of the final Diplomacy Begins Here Regional Summit of the year (November 15-16). Led by Annette Alvarez, Executive Director of Global Ties Miami, the Summit and Learning Lab promise to be inspiring and useful in riding out the tough times, especially during such a challenging year for the exchanges community.
It has been astounding to watch us come together to pool resources, troubleshoot, and ensure that the critical work ofexchanges continues. I look forward to seeing many of you in Miami. Thanks to Annette and the Global Ties Miami team for their work! I also thank our wonderful partners in the Carolinas—Johnelle Causwell and Jim Byrum—for successfully hosting the Summit and Learning Lab in Charlotte, NC this past August.
I also want to encourage all of you to come to Santa Fe, NM in December to another incredible event, Journalism Under Fire. Some of you may know that I studied journalists in conflict environments for years while I was at Columbia University. I spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and saw up close the various challenges journalists face each day in pursuit of truth and public service. While running the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, I met more journalists who had benefited from the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists through the International Visitor Leadership Program. Their time in the U.S. with American peers was tremendously helpful in giving them new strategies and tools to work with, as well as a sense of camaraderie and support with U.S. journalists.
Sandy Campbell, Executive Director of the Santa Fe Council on International Relations, has organized a fascinating week of talks about this topic. Thanks to the support of the Office of International Visitors, they will also welcome a cohort of Edward R. Murrow Fellows to meet American journalists based in the Southwest region of the U.S. Hope to see you there!
I also can’t wait for the 2019 National Meeting in January. This year’s theme, “The Exchange Effect: Growing Impact at Home and Abroad,” will explore the full impact of exchange programs. How do exchange programs affect the participants, as well as the individuals and communities that host them? What impact do they leave on local American communities, both economically and intellectually? Registration is now open and opportunities to help support it are also available.
Finally, I want to take a moment to honor the memory of Bill Yarnall of Global Ties ABQ who passed away late August. He was a tremendous advocate for exchanges and an extremely generous supporter of the Global Ties Network. We keep his wife Carol in our thoughts and remain grateful for the legacy he leaves behind.
All the best,
Katherine Brown