A Look Back at the 2023 Impact!
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us at our Annual Meeting this past Wednesday, Jan. 24. It was our first in person meeting since COVID! The year came with its successes and challenges! However we are so thankful for our team and our community for continuing our mission in spreading global awareness and cultural understanding.
Let’s talk about the highlights of 2023!
Here are the 2023 Numbers:
We served 9634 students, almost DOUBLE last years numbers! Exchanges were fully in-person, with 135 visitors from 76 countries. We had 11 public events serving 700 community members and 254 volunteers who gave 2,182 hours of their time.
Let’s celebrate those accomplishments with the best stories from the year!
Top 3 Global Education Stories
3. Global Summer Camp: Through the support of our amazing donors, this year we continued our Global Summer Camp with Covington Independent School District. We reached over 100 students by visiting all 5 elementary schools which was a quarter more than last year. Our Global Guide, Rojina Rai, shared her story of being a refugee in Nepal. Students were excited to meet Rojina and to learn more about her culture. We look forward to another year partnering with local organizations to deliver this valuable program.
2. International Education Summit – Another one of our most loved global programs was the 17th Annual International Education Summit held again at NKU. With over 200 students and educators from local schools attending the summit, many local partners providing engaging workshops for the students, and a diverse group of professionals meeting with students for speed networking, this summit was not to be missed. In addition, we launched the Richard Lauf Career Fair and Global Studies grant. 98% of the students who attended felt the Summit was beneficial for their future success.
1. Richard Lauf Career Fair and Global Studies Grant: We were thrilled to announce last year the opportunity to participate in the Richard Lauf Career Fair and Global Studies grant application. Through a generous donation in honor of Richard Lauf, students who attended IES participated in a Career Fair which included local businesses, non-profits, and opportunities to study abroad. Grants up to $1000 were awarded to local schools to encourage teachers, and students to develop and carry out a project that benefits their school or community related to the UN Global Goals. Their projects range from a global explorers club, taking action with international coffee to appreciation of cultural diversity through memoirs. We look forward to the discoveries made by students with these incredible projects.
Now let’s look at our top stories in Global Exchange!
TechGirls Exchange: Although 2022 was virtual, for the second year in a row the Council was selected to host a cohort of 21 high school girls from Europe and Eurasia with the in person exchange program called TechGirls. This time, in-person! Through the kind generosity of local home hosts and job shadow mentors, the participants visited and participated in a wide-variety of cultural and professional experiences for five days. The feedback from the girls was very positive. We are proud to share that we were the only city with the program to achieve all of the outcomes intended for TechGirls. We are delighted to join together to support the upcoming generation of future women leaders in STEM careers.
Our Top IVLP Stories: Our signature exchange program, the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), is the premier exchange program of our region leading people to people diplomacy efforts and connecting our region to the very best and brightest of international dignitaries. All visitors on this program are hand picked by our embassies to travel to the U.S. to exchange best practices and ideas for collaboration.
2. Transparency & Accountability: A special delegation traveling to our region discussed Transparency and Accountability in Local Government, met with many local resources and representatives from offices, and even had a chance to meet all of the Cincinnati City Council Members. You can see a list of partners and countries on the screen for this program.
The delegates explained that they were having a friendly competition with the delegation in the other city, St. Louis. They were so impressed with us that they said our city won hands down– from the view from their hotel, to the meetings, to the friendly hospitality they were met with everywhere they went. The delegates even expressed that if they were to move to the United States, they would want to move to the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area. Their experience, overall, was one of the best during the entirety of their visit to the U.S. !
1.Young European Leaders II: Another very memorable delegation was the group of Young European Leaders – We introduced them to the political, geographical, and regional differences between Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana and they were truly amazed at the size of the United States and how long it took to drive to the different areas.
A visit to the Cincinnati Enquirer allowed the visitors to engage with a local journalist and learn how they employ different types of media to engage their audience. Another trip highlight was the visit to East Central High School in St. Leon, Indiana where they enjoyed speaking to students, visiting the classrooms, and learning about the programs. After the meeting, all the delegates flocked to the school buses outside to take pictures. They had never seen a yellow school bus before! Our delegates even met with Mayor Meyer of Covington finding inspiration in his work to revitalize the community and create opportunities for its residents.
If that wasn’t enough, a local family, the Gunkels, helped to plan an Indiana Day for the guests and invited the visitors to their farm for a home cooked meal and local hospitality with delicious food. We couldn’t have done it without their support!
Let’s take a quick look at some of the event highlights from the year!
2. One World Gala & Global Trivia Competition: The One World Gala, the Council’s only annual fundraiser, supported access and success of almost 10,000 local students with global programs for free or at low cost throughout last year. By raising $95,000 through a tough trivia competition with 20 teams emceed by Kyle Inskeep from Local 12, it was a huge success. Congratulations again to the winning team, Latitudes with Attitudes sponsored by CVG!
It is because of your generosity that we were able to continue providing our youth with the resources they need to become the next generation of global leaders.
1. Global Speakers Series: Beyond our Annual Gala, the events we found the most success in was our speakers series. Both hybrid and in-person, we worked closely with the The U.S. Institute of Peace and the Council on Foreign Relations to have experts discuss foreign policy issues and human rights. Belquis Ahmadi, in particular, was able to join us in-person for a couple of days to give lectures throughout Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky on women’s rights in Afghanistan. It was our most popular speaker’s event.
Beyond our speakers, we had a few networking events for professionals in our area to meet with our visiting international professionals. These 11 events we put on over the 2023 year reflected the interest our local community has to staying well informed on global issues and developing cross-cultural relationships with other professionals. Still staying true to our vision of global diplomacy, a century later.
Without YOUR Help We Wouldn’t Have Accomplished Some Amazing Things!
The World Affairs Council WON Cincy Magazine’s Non-Profit of the Year for Lifelong Learning Programs. We also participated for the first time in the Cincy Gives Challenge, an annual friendly competition between local non-profits to raise the most amount in ten days. We met our goal of $10,000 thanks to everyone who got the word out and donated! And, of course, our chapter received the World Affairs Council of America Centennial Award! This award, however, was not based in a voting competition like the others. Instead the Centennial Award our chapter was given was a result of a century of volunteers, donors, board members, and employees whose passion for diplomacy and cross-cultural exchange reverberated through the years, passed on from one generation to the next. We hope to continue this for another century! Unless there’s world peace. Well, even then, isn’t there always something new to learn?
Thank you to everyone who went above and beyond this Year
We couldn’t have been able to grow as much as we did this past year without our board members, corporate sponsors, volunteers and community partners! This year we had the opportunity to give out awards to a select few!
- Volunteer of the Year–Terri Burke
- Educator of the Year –Josh Amstutz of Winton Woods High School
- School of the Year –Aiken High School
- Hospitality Host of the Year –Jeff Walkup
- Global Citizen of the Year –Mayor Joseph Meyer of Covington, KY
- Community Partner of the Year– Commission on Women & Girls
- Global Partner of the Year– DeanHouston+
- Half Decade –Dale Dean and Doug Goldberg
- More than Half Decade –Bob Betz (14 years), John Pinney (14 years), and Karlee Hilliard (8 years)
- Service Appreciation Award –Michele Mansfield
A Look Into 2024: We’re excited for what this year brings!
Welcome to our new board members and thank you to our other members who are continuing with us! You can find our new board members here!
You will be seeing some big programs come out this year! We will be hosting events like the 18th annual International Education Summit, a new signature series of events, and make sure to keep an eye out for our eleventh Annual One World Gala on April 12th. We hope to host more that 200 visitors, with volunteer opportunities to host visitors for dinner or overnight as well as meeting with them professionally. We hope to reach 10,000 students this year through our education programs. We are also aiming for at least 10 events with year, with the same amount of volunteers (or more)! Overall, we are looking to expand our mission and outreach! From being Cincinnati’s best kept secret to being a household name!
No matter what year it is, one thing rings true: you show up to the challenge! We love serving our community and are looking forward to a great 2024!
Here are some upcoming events!
- STEAM Multicultural Networking -February 1
- Human Rights Advocacy – Home Hospitality Needed Feb 19
- Whiskies of the World -February 22
- Educator’s Workshop -February 28
- One World Gala & Global Trivia Competition -April 12th
^^Above programs as of 1/29/2024
