Letter from the Director 

Geez Louise, is summer already over? Makes me thankful for our ABQ Indian Summers which means we still have lots of beautiful (and hopefully cooler) days and evenings to enjoy! 

August saw us hosting two fascinating International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) groups on Building Drought & Preparedness and Resilience who met with the USGS - Water Science Center and the Sustainable Agriculture Science Center at Alcalde. The group heralded from Argentina, Costa Rica, Pakistan, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines and Italy. We then welcomed a group from several nations on Human and Civil Rights for Marginalized Communities. This group met with the UNM LGBTQ office, ABQ Healthcare for the Homeless, Neighborhood Retirement facility and the Torrence County Correctional facility.

It always impresses me the quality of experts we have in EVERY field, right HERE in Albuquerque, reminds me that we may be small, but we are mighty!! A big shout out to our Program Officer, Christian Finke, who does the absolutely fantastic (and laborious) job of lining up these meetings for us. He always spot-on with his connections and keeps broadening our resources, THANK YOU!!

We’ve got two groups coming this month: Women Leaders - Promoting Peace and Security, this will be 13 women from western hemisphere Spanish speaking countries. And then, 21 visitors under the subject of Climate Crisis - Working Together for Future Generation, also Spanish speaking. We’ll be hosting a group event with this group, invitation forthcoming.

I’d also like to welcome our two new Board Members: Treasurer Barbara Campbell and Member-at-Large, Philip Hulquist. Read more about them, and all our valuable Board Members below.

Thank you all for your support of our work, we couldn’t do it without you!

Melora

August 27th: Human and Civil Rights for Marginalized Communities 

This past month, Global Ties ABQ had the privilege of hosting 11 human rights experts from the Near East and North Africa.

The Department of State outlined the following objectives for the project:

• Understand best practices to prevent and address human rights violations against members of marginalized communities.
• Explore building local capacity to document abuses and advocate for rule of law to protect the rights of victims.
• Discuss advocacy strategies to reform discriminatory laws and policies and to develop improved legislative protections;
• Plan public education campaigns to promote tolerance, inclusiveness, and/or awareness of minority communities and their contribution to society.
• Examine interfaith dialogue and cooperation efforts in communities at risk for violence.

To meet those objectives in ABQ, the delegation met with the UNM LGBTQ+ Resource Center and Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless. They also volunteered at the Neighborhood Retirement Facility in Rio Rancho to meet and converse with the residents and visited the Torrance County Prison in Estancia.

The visitors are empowered to use this experience to improve the human rights of prisoners, unhoused individuals, and the LGTBQ+ community back home in Egypt, Chad, Tunisia, Israel and Algeria among other countries.

We're excited to introduce you to our 2024 board members and look forward to a fantastic year of collaboration and growth! 

 (click the link above to read their bios)

September 30 - October 2: Women Leaders, Promoting Peace and Security (12 visitors)

This is a regional group for the Western Hemisphere with the following objectives:

• Examine the current and historical roles of women in political transitions, post-conflict reconstruction, humanitarian emergencies, conflict prevention, and peacemaking efforts;

• Assess the impact of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), which reaffirmed the important role of women in peace and security, and explore inter-agency coordination to implement the resolution;

October 3 -8: Amplifying Indigenous Voices in Climate and Conservation Policy

(6 visitors)

This is a single country project for Nepal with the following objectives:

• Enhance participants' understanding of the global climate and conservation policy landscape, with a focus on the role of indigenous communities in policy development and implementation.

• Strengthen participants' skills in advocacy, policy analysis, community organizing, leadership, and partnership building.

• Provide participants with opportunities to establish partnerships with domestic and international NGOs to make their voices heard and listened to.

• Facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences among indigenous communities in Nepal and with U.S. counterparts, promoting collaboration and networking.

Members, there will be a hosting opportunity for this group. More details forthcoming, but you can let us know now if you’re interested by writing us at info@globaltiesabq.org.

Do you have questions on how home hosting works?

Do you not know what to expect?

use this link below to learn more

FAQ

GTUS Impact Study: GT’s National study Affirms Domestic Benefits of Exchange Programs. The 2024 Global Ties U.S. Community Impact Study, examined how international exchange programs impact U.S. communities nationwide. The findings confirm last year’s study that international exchange programs like the U.S. Department of State-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) generate positive impacts for U.S. workforce development and community-building.

The 2024 Community Impact Study received responses from 773 people from 53 local organizations in 28 states (that includes many of our members, thank you for participating!). Respondents have decades of combined experience hosting international leaders through exchange programs.

GTABQ CRM Data: We’ve been working to visualize data from our new CRM system to help us demonstrate our impact. We will use these graphics to show potential donors and funders our local impact. See below for some great reports we’ve generated!