A Special

AppreciationNote of

Partners of the AmericasPresident & CEO

Written by Steve Vetter,

One of the salient features that all of these meetings showcase is the “living history” of Partners. Members have been inspired at various points to follow the vision John Kennedy originally set out for us. Some dig even deeper into the vision that President Dwight Eisenhower had in creating the people-to-people movement as a counter to the “military industrial complex”. And others have also aligned with Partners based on the importance

Thus far we have seen our chapters pick up our 50th anniversary challenge in a number of unique and productive ways. The Colorado-Minas Gerais Partners kicked off the 50th celebrations with a What Works regional meeting in Greeley, Colorado. The Rio-Maryland Partners held a memorable celebration in Rio de Janeiro in which the Governor of Maryland joined them along with members of a trade mission. The Kansas-Paraguay Partners recently held their annual meeting at Kansas State University, with the debut of a 40-Year History written by Merrill Raber and his wife, Boots. And last week, the Florida-Colombia

As part of our three-year celebration of Partners’ 50th Anniversary, we have encouraged the idea of a “movable feast” in which celebrations will take place among our chapters and partnerships throughout 2013, 2014, and 2015. Among many smaller events, we look forward to two highlights:

(2) A celebration on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, which we will host in early 2015.

(1) Our Convention where we will celebrate the 50th on a regional basis, to be held September 23-26, 2014 in Florianopolis, Brazil.

Partners held their celebration at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, focusing on their work in environmental stewardship. I’ve been able to attend all of these, with the exception of the Rio celebration, and they have been a rewarding and positive experience.

It was this particular piece of insight that prompted me to want to attend the Florida Partners’ celebration—the chapter actually pre-dates the creation of Partners of the Americas! Civic leaders in Florida understood full well that they are the “Gateway to the Americas” and the vision of Kennedy was all that they needed to begin organizing their chapter in 1963. Much of the credit goes to Jerry Keuper and Arthur Kimball of Florida Institute of Technology, and Bob Coyne of Florida State University for their visionary and prescient insight and leadership. And I suspect they, along with Kennedy, Eisenhower, and Rockefeller, would all be as impressed and delighted as I was by the work of the Florida-Colombia Partners today. Jean Coyne, wife of Bob, joined us and brought with her that “touchstone to

1. University Partnership. Our recent re-chartering data confirmed what we have observed over the years: the stronger, higher performing chapters have some level of affiliation and integration with a university or network of universities or colleges. Stetson University has played this role for the Florida Partners, with a number of our leaders being faculty members. This is a lovely, growing private university of approximately 3,500 students and I was warmly received by the various deans and faculty members. There is a strong interest in how Stetson can win one of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas grants, and there was real appreciation for the work that the students are doing through their PartnersCampus. John Schorr has played a pivotal leadership role at Stetson, guiding students into studying Latin America.

of the “Public Diplomacy” that Nelson Rockefeller espoused. In working to sustain this living history and the strength of our network, we witness a trend that our oldest chapters and partnerships are the strongest and highest performing.

“We witness a trend that our oldest chapters and partnerships are the strongest and highest performing.”

Here are some of the highlights:

history” along with her 40+ years of serviceto Partners. Her excitement about the current work of the Florida Partners is as strong as it was when she and her husband helped establish the chapter.

2. Critical Mass: Chapter + PartnersCampus + 100,000 Strong in the Americas + Climate Change Fellows + Youth Ambassadors. The Florida Partners fully grasped the significance of bringing our various new program elements into the work of the chapter. The synergy between these various programs, and how they inter-relate with the chapter and the university was not lost on anyone. In each program area, the chapter understood that these programs can complement their work, AND serve as a recruiting tool to bring in additional members. The Florida Partners clearly understand this and have, in the best sense of the word, “exploited” each and every program we have offered them: Youth Ambassadors, PartnersCampus, Climate Change Fellows, and now, the possibility of grant support to Stetson University to increase the flow of students to Stetson from Latin America, and the encouragement to send more Stetson students to study in Latin America. Rarely have I enjoyed that much

3. Innovation & Commitment, Florida Style: The Florida Partners’ “Our Birds are their Birds Too.” The program has always intrigued me. It is a unique approach to an obvious issue—birds fly freely across borders—that reminds us of how connected we really are. I was delighted to see that the program is still running strong, with the active involvement of grade school students and teachers in both Florida and Bogotá, Colombia. Alison McKellar, a graduate of Stetson and past Partners International Board member, heavily invested her time and leadership in making this happen and she is recognized and appreciated for this work. The sense of a “movable feast” took an interesting twist when we were able to “beam up,” via Skype, teacher Nury Penagos from a public school in the

sought-after sense of a “win-win.” Having Juan Camilo with us as we discussed the special importance of developing the first Bi-Lingual Volunteer Exchange program for Colombia through SENA was especially important. Fabian Gonzalez, whose passion is a bi-lingual Colombia, could not join us but we all know of his engagement in this important program.

southern region of Bogotá (Usme) for an interactive discussion.

“They want to connect, serve and change lives

and there is a pro-active sense and consciousness about their work to create

opportunity.”

4. The Florida Password: Opportunity. We don’t talk that much about creating opportunity for others. It seems to be clearly assumed. But I was struck by how conscious the chapter leaders are in creating new and ever growing opportunities for students and new members. They want to connect, serve and change lives and there is a pro-active sense and consciousness about their work to create opportunity. This was brought home in another Skype video with Caity Petersen from Cali, Colombia where she was successful in securing a job with CIAT right out of Stetson. How? During her Climate Change Fellowship organized by Partners, her academic advisor, Tony Abbot, stopped off at the center and asked about securing positions for his students. Caity came across in both English and Spanish as a wise,well-informed student on the issues of agriculture and how it relates to climate change. She offered, “I’m so glad representatives are there today from Partners so I can thank them for helping me get such a great job.”

6. PPP X 10: Public Private Partnerships. I am no stranger to northern and central Florida and had imagined that Stetson would be located in another one of those small, central towns where the downtown stores had long moved to the big box suburbs and where there were few good restaurants or night life. There would be boarded-up vacant buildings and that hollow sense of civic life that is so often found outside of the coastal cities. However, I found just the opposite: a great restaurants, bars, stores and entertainment. And a real sense of civic

5. “Wise Latinas Taking Over.” This was one of the titles for a fundraising campaign we had considered. It grew out of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotamayor’s comment during her Senate review. We decided against using it but I found myself thinking about it as we listened to the three dynamic Latinas who have played a key role in organizing the PartnersCampus student group at Stetson. Given the focus on Europe and other localities for the semester abroad programs, they were appreciative of a program that would, at last, allow them to organize and celebrate Latin culture. Their participation in the PartnersCampus convention in Medellín, Colombia was one of the highlights of their work. We were also fortunate to have Raaida Mannaa of the Barranquilla Chapter, who also serves on our International Board of Directors join us. She gave a detailed presentation on the follow-up work from the International World Summit on Youth Voluntary Service that we held in Barranquilla in 2011. Her report on the ongoing engagement with youth through Red 2021 and IAVE was well received and a reminder of how that important lesson in physics is carried out at Partners: an object—or youth leader--once set in motion, stays in motion. Talk about Wise Latinas….

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7. The Leadership Riddle: Sourcing Talent. John Schorr, who has been active in the Chapter since 1986 and served on our national board for 9 years, brings a special talent and leadership to Partners. I had just assumed that he was a true Latin Americanist—a member of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and had done his doctoral research in Latin America. Wrong! His first love was Germany and he speaks German based on a Fulbright Fellowship. He only became involved in Partners because he was asked –ASKED– to join by someone he admired. John is now married to a woman from Thailand and preparing to retire there to live ten months out of the year. He now loves to speak in Spanish, German and Thai along with several other languages; although he frets that his Thai is starting to get entangled with his Spanish. At his core John is simply a curious, open, smart person who lives in, believes in and promotes community.

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pride. I found it curious on the first day that Mayor Apgar would join us in a welcoming speech, but I thought it a good and smart touch to the meeting. As I saw vibrant, active downtown with more and more of the town itself—tidy, well organized and with vital energy—I kept asking: “How did this happen? Who did this?” And bit by bit, comment by comment, I started piecing together this story: John Schorr and the leadership of the chapter played an important role in working-with the town and the university to help make it what it is today. But of course! How can you contain “social energy”?

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figure out how we reverse the downward trend of our chapters and volunteers and revitalize our network. The question of sourcing, or where you find the John Schorrs, Sue Mahans, Gina Pezzanos, John Schochs, John Novembers, Tony Abbotts, Raaida Mannaas and their kind is uppermost in our minds. Is there a “network of networks” where we might tap into them? The answer seems to be: embrace randomness and the Power of the Ask. “Each One Asks One” is the simple arithmetic that seems to explain our stronger chapters. People get involved because they are asked, invited, by others who they respect to join them. We are back in the Realm of the Cutting Edge of Common Sense.

Why is this all important?

It’s not enough to just find or source the right kind of leaders for Partners. They also have to be trained and oriented. Gina Pezzano could not join us from Barranquilla because she is overseeing yet another Catedra de Barranquilla training program for student leaders. And then the idea struck me: what would happen if we could arrange the funding or business model so that other youth leaders and chapter leaders could travel to Barranquilla to be trained in their leadership program? And what would happen if we could then extend this kind of training to

other key countries and cities through our chapters?

Selecting + Training Leaders:The Role of the University

Because we aredesperately trying to

My one big “Take Away” from this rich and rewarding experience is this: the Florida-Colombia Partnership must have a good representation at our 50th Anniversary Convention and share their story and their lessons

It was so exciting to see all of the new energy and individuals flow into the Florida Partners because they were both asked and engaged in meaningful programs such as our Climate Change Fellows, PartnersCampus and Youth Ambassadors. They connected in a meaningful, life-changing kind of way and felt that wonderful sensation of gratitude, the willingness to pay back in appreciation for an

unexpected gift.

Gratitude and Engagement