Guys I got a reply from the State Department. Here it is. Basically the same thing as Jamaica. Hi Christina, Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and experiences from the Youth Ambassadors program. The program clearly has already had a huge positive impact on your life and will continue to do so in the future, and that’s wonderful and important news for me to hear. Yes, we have received letters from others who likewise had an extremely positive experience taking part in the Youth Ambassadors program. I am sharing with you the same information I shared with other Youth Ambassador groups that have written, as we in ECA also strongly believe in the program and thankfully it is not being discontinued as you feared. I am not only the program officer for Youth Ambassadors, but I am a strong advocate for citizen exchange programs, particularly youth exchanges. Please note that ECA is continuing the Youth Ambassadors program for the Caribbean and we will have another excellent organization offering a similar experience in the United States for the next selected participants. The process for selecting the organizations with which we partner on our exchange programs is highly competitive. Many strong, capable organizations run by creative facilitators and trainers compete for the opportunity to serve the U.S. Department of State’s future Youth Ambassadors. Quite a number of proposals were found to be extremely strong this year, so not all organizations were able to receive funding. As background, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) funds nearly all of its international exchange programs in partnership with non-profit organizations, such as CMLE (aka Bold Leaders). Technically, the way by which the U.S. Department of State administers its programs is through funding cooperative agreements and institutional grants, which are not the same as contracts. Cooperative agreements are similar to grants, but with more direct involvement by the funding organization, in this case, the Department of State. Each fiscal year, we anxiously await information as to how much money the U.S. Congress will give to the U.S. Department of State for citizen exchanges, specifically youth programs. Once we receive word that we will have funding available and at which levels, we start an open competition process. This happens every one or two years. The Youth Ambassadors program is a large program, totally nearly $3 million each year and reaching nearly 400 students in all 26 countries in the Western Hemisphere. In 2014, we had seven different non-profit organizations, including CMLE, running all the separate components of Youth Ambassadors. These exchanges take place not only in the Caribbean, but also in South America, Central America and Canada. How it works is that individual ECA program offices, in this case my office (Office of Citizens Exchanges Youth Programs), develop Requests for Grant Proposals (RFGPs), outlining the program. This RFGP is then approved by the Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs and then announced to the public, as an open competition, meaning all eligible organizations may apply. This RFGP, like all approved RFGPs, are published on ECA’s website and also on Grants.gov so that it is widely available. Most of the applicants that apply for ECA grants are either non-profit organizations or educational institutions and all must meet the eligibility requirements noted in the RFGP. I conducted an initial review to be sure that each submitted proposal met the criteria to be eligible for consideration, and for the Youth Ambassadors open competition, all the submitted proposals were eligible. The proposals were then distributed to regional bureaus, in this case the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and all 26 embassies included in the RFGP for comment. The comments were collected and distributed, along with the individual proposals, to a panel of State Department employees that met to review the proposals. In order to be fair and unbiased, these panelists work outside of the Youth Programs division. After panel discussions, they made recommendations for funding. Quite a number of proposals were found to be extremely strong this year, so not all organizations were able to receive funding. However, I am happy to report that the Youth Ambassadors program will be taking place in all 26 countries in the Western Hemisphere in 2015, including the Caribbean! The grant has been signed and work is starting. While CMLE will not be implementing the program, the Youth Ambassadors program in the Caribbean will continue. I urge you to reach out to the next group of Youth Ambassadors Caribbean after they are selected in 2015. You can build networks and continue to enact positive change in your communities, something that you’ve done so successfully so far. You understand the importance of community, and can share your positive spirit with the next group. It’s wonderfully clear that you’ve made extremely strong connections within the Youth Ambassadors Caribbean community, including the CMLE staff, and these connections are sure to last a lifetime. Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors! Sincerely, Melissa Cotton
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:25:31 +0000
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