Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy: An Organization Spotlight
Another update on our stories; we have received many stories from people who were directly involved in improving the reputation and standing of the United States and its people. Many of these individuals have served as hosts for visitors participating in international exchange programs and welcomed their visitors with open arms. Just as citizen diplomats are communicating inter-culturally, those diplomats who stay within the borders of the United States interact with visitors who visit the U.S.
Out of all our incoming stories, we received eight of them from volunteers at the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy (UCCD). This not-for-profit organization, with the same goal and mission as the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, works in coordination with the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program to bring international visitors to the United States in an act of friendship to achieve healthy relations between the the U.S. and the native countries represented by the visiting citizen ambassadors. Greeting and hosting international visitors provides the ideal opportunity to strenghten international relations "one handshake at a time".
When governments fail to establish healthy and friendly relations with each other, that is when the citizens need to step in and forge bonds themselves, with other citizens. A very poignant quote comes from one of the stories submitted by a member. It reads as follows, "Politicians make a government; people make a country."
We will soon be publishing the stories we received from the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy in our Strories.
Thank you to DeAnna Debry, Shirley Rossa, Jonathan Tichy, Lori Harding, Rosemary Baron, Mary Dickson, Denise Wheeler, and Howard Lehman for sending us your inspiring diplomacy stories. The U.S. Center would like to applaud the diplomatic efforts of the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy.
Posted Wednesday, July 21, 2010