Q: What did you learn about American Culture during your visit that you didn't know before?

A: The American Culture stretches from one end of the extreme to the other. The state, the city, the people, they are all different from state to state. Some are in a hurry, some live in quietness. Such is the culture- diverse and multilingual.

-- Zaruhi GEVORGYAN,  Vocalist, Dogma Rock Band, Armenia

Last month, nine International Visitor Leadership Program participants from Egypt, Jordan, Mali, Morocco and Saudi Arabia came to Los Angeles to learn how our local agencies support youth development, mitigate inter-ethnic conflicts, and provide support to immigrants. On their program entitled "Regional Community Approaches to Social Issues", their goal was to explore how to manage political challenges while balancing divergent social demands and interests.

 

Their first meeting was an introduction to combating gang culture at the renowned Homeboy Industries, which provides former gang members with meaningful employment. They touched on youth development, a central theme for this group, as Homeboy Industries keeps at-risk youth away from crime, drugs, and violence. After a former gang member-led tour, the group enjoyed lunch at Homegirl Café, which is staffed by at-risk women and former female gang members.

 

For a first-hand look at how public-private partnerships foster civic engagement, they visited Umma Clinic, a community clinic providing access to high quality healthcare for all, regardless of ability to pay. One of the delegation's main interests was non-profit medical assistance, which Umma Clinic provides. Accessible healthcare is not prevalent in the group's home countries, especially when it comes to the indigent, whose social and economic realities act as barriers to accessing care. In the same vein of ensuring equal access to all, the visitors had a meeting with the LA County Commission on Disabilities, which advises the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on issues affecting the lives of people with disabilities. There, they witnessed how social policy is formulated to assure that health, employment, education, and transportation issues are confronted. The group also learned how the commission monitors the quality of municipal services and recommends improvements to existing laws.

 

Many of the participants' work is focused on improving the quality of life in their societies. Regaining a sense of community trust is essential to social empowerment, which is what they learned at the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. They explored strategies to re-engage their communities, like offering employment training programs, day-care programs, and rebuilding neighborhoods. In the time of the largest refugee crisis since WWII, the visitors wanted to know more about disaster relief and support to immigrants. To this end, a meeting was arranged with the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region, which covered international tracing services for families separated internationally due to conflict, international humanitarian law, and medical relief efforts.

 

On Saturday morning, the visitors rolled up their sleeves to experience the American spirit of volunteerism. At Trash 4 Teaching, they sorted through materials otherwise headed for landfills and re-imagined the items for classroom use. IVCLA Members joined in on the cross-cultural community service, working side by side with the visitors. The next day was chock-full of excitement, as the visitors spent their day at Universal Studios, enjoying the sunshine and thrill rides. Come sundown, it was time to stop fasting and start feasting! That evening, a very special edition of home hospitality was held at the Indian Kitchen in West Hollywood. IVCLA members Jerry and Clancy Zerg, Carlos Collard, and Nora Elkoussy joined the international visitors in an Iftar Dinner. During the month of Ramadan, the Iftar is the first meal that breaks the fast. Not everyone at the Iftar dinner fasted, or was even Muslim, but despite their differences, everyone came together to enjoy a delicious meal and share stories with new friends.

IVCLA congratulates our alumna Ms. Muhterem Aras on being elected as the president of the Baden-Wuerttemberg state parliament! Born in Turkey, she is the first immigrant to win a direct mandate to a German State Parliament and is the first Muslim to serve in the Baden-Wuerttemberg State Parliament. Just last year, Ms. Aras visited Los Angeles on an IVLP program exploring Demographic Change and Integration in a Multicultural Society. During her time here, Ms. Aras worked directly with the immigrant community in the U.S to understand what efforts they are making in order to settle and succeed in the country. We are so proud to see her achieving incr edible heights and continuing her work with immigrant/minority integration!

Recently a group of entertainment and media professionals from Africa came to L.A. to participate in Relativity Education's HOLLYWOOD IN FOCUS program. The program is an innovative mentoring initiative connecting storytellers from around the world with leading U.S. entertainment professionals through professional mentorships, workshops and master classes. IVCLA Board Member Stephen Ozoigbo, International Advisor at Relativity Education, leads the program. This year it was in partnership with the U.S. Department of State's Office of Global Partnerships program, LIONS@FRICA. Attending the graduation festivities was Constance Tzioumis who works with LIONS@FRICA as the Director of Partnerships for the U.S Department of State's Global Partnerships Office. IVCLA CEO Janet Elliott also offered the graduates congratulations on behalf of IVCLA. Due to Stephen's work with African entrepreneurs, IVCLA is proud to report he was invited to dine with President Obama during the President's visit to San Francisco last month. Stephen was one of eleven other tech industry leaders invited for the private dinner.

We are pleased to welcome our summer Programs intern, Katy Kelly. Katy is currently pursuing a Master's in Public Diplomacy from the Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, where she is a member of the National Communications Honor Society, Lambda Pi Eta, and serves as the Events Chair on the board of the Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars. She received her B.A. in International Relations from DePaul University in 2010. Her focus lies in social entrepreneurship, international education & exchange, and women's empowerment. In 2014, she traveled to Uganda with the non-profit Pangea Educational Development, to build sustainable education projects. Later that same year, she helped organize a 150 mile bike ride from San Diego, CA to Los Angeles, CA, which successfully raised nearly $10,000 and fully financed a local project in Uganda.  Apart from her love of travel, she plays soccer, speaks French and is a certified yoga instructor.

Luyi Xu is currently pursuing her B .A. in International Relations and B .S. in Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. Her focus covers regional studies on the pacific rim, culture & gender studies in global society, and environmental public policy. Luyi is a member of Alpha Phi Omega Co-Ed Service Fraternity, and a volunteer teacher in USC Teaching International Relations Program. Luyi also works as an event coordinator at USC Office of Cultural Relations & University Events. In addition, she interned at the Chinese Society of Education as an assistant to the director. In July 2015, Luyi co-hosted and served on the organizational committee for the Gender Equality & Sustainability Set of World Women Conference, as well as translated for over 100 international guests. Luyi is trained as a professional figure skater in her hometown of Beijing, China. She is also a dancer and choreographer for USC Traditional Chinese Dance team.

 

The Virtual Student Foreign Service (VSFS) is the largest virtual internship program in the world!  This year there are more than 900 vacancies with more than 30 federal agencies.  VSFS offers unique mentoring and recruitment possibilities.

 

Applications for the 2016-17 VSFS program are open between July 2 and 22 on USAJOBS.gov. Real work is waiting for students with more than 30 federal agencies including NASA, the Smithsonian, the State Department, National Parks Service, and others. You can see the projects offered at http://vsfs.state.gov/!   

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FRENCH FAVORITES FOR BASTILLE DAY

Thursday, July 14 - Thursday, July 28 

Co-presented by the French Film and TV office, French Consulate in Los Angeles

Where: Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue,
Santa Monica, CA 90403

The French Revolution was sparked on July 14, 1789, when the people of Paris stormed the city's political prison - an event still celebrated every year as Bastille Day. Also known as French National Day, it's as good a time as any to revisit the country's rich contribution to film. Jacques Tati's The Big Day drops its errant mailman into a rural village's Bastille Day festivities to hilarious effect; the writer-director wreaks havoc on a beach resort in  M. Hulot's Holiday , which introduced the beloved pipe-smoking title character to moviegoers. Director Jacques Demy, composer Michel Legrand and star Catherine Deneuve team for two of the most enchanting musicals of the 1960s,  The Young Girls of  Rochefort and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg . Few French filmmakers loom larger in cinema history than Jean-Luc Godard, and mid-'60s classics Pierrot Le Fou  and Contempt are masterfully told tales of pulp crime and romantic drama, respectively. A reconstruction of Henri-Georges Clouzot's  Inferno is paired with the director's The Truth , in which Brigitte Bardot stands trial for murder. 

For schedule and ticket information, click here!