On Thursday, November 19th, the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council (GCCDC) held its Fall Membership Party at the Courtyard in North Hill. Chairman John Asmar welcomed the group and eleven new members to the event. After entertaining everyone with a bit of clever banter, he introduced Mark Rebstock, Vice President for the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) in Washington, D.C., who joined the assemblage as a special guest.
Mr. Rebstock spoke on the importance of cross-cultural exchange, the role of volunteers in ensuring the success of the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), and gave some history of the IVLP. He complimented the GCCDC on the impressive strides made after only 18 months and then announced that the full NCIV membership application submitted by the GCCDC had been reviewed & approved by its board of directors, promoting our local council from provisional status. As a full member of the 92-community national network, the GCCDC now has access to further support from Washington, D.C., for the IVLP in northwest Florida, news which the group greeted with a round of applause.
Executive Director Jena Melançon next thanked everyone for the support they had shown the council and reported that from February to November 2009 the council has:
· Worked with five university interns;
· Sent international delegates to six boy, cub, and girl scout troops;
· Sent international delegates into eight different schools with some of these having received multiple visits;
· Prepared programs for 19 different delegations;
· Hosted 28 U.S. Department of State interpreters and English Language Officers;
· Brought visitors representing 31 countries into the region;
· Introduced the area to 81 different delegates, delegates who would not have come to northwest Florida but for the work of the GCCDC in promoting the region;
· Filled 302 hotel rooms; and
· Donated over 2,250 hours of volunteer time through the work of members, staff, volunteers, and interns.
She also acknowledged that the delegates have spent considerable sums in restaurants and in local shops but that what is most valuable are the northwest Florida contacts they take back to their own countries.
