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Creating international connections
Cultivating local innovation
Activating global potential
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January 2022
CITIZEN DIPLOMACY NEWS
Expand Your World Today
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In This Issue...
- Quote of the Month
- Happy New Year from IVCLA
- Sharing a Global Perspective
- Global LA Partner
- IVCLA Board Member News
- Community Events
- International Opportunities
- Stay Informed on COVID-19
- Upcoming International Programs
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Click the button below to check out our past newsletters: |
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Quote of the Month:
“What I will remember about Los Angeles is how inclusive the city is. The system is not perfect, but you can see people and agencies working together.”
~ Clydie Placer Pasia, from the Philippines for a project on "Women Leaders Promoting Peace and Security"
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Happy New Year from IVCLA |
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We are looking forward to the new year and the return of in-person events and international programs. Despite the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, our program officers were able to create some wonderful virtual programming for our international visitors! In 2021 IVCLA hosted 314 visitors from 104 different countries and we are excited for more visitors this year. May your new year be filled with health and happiness, we look forward to working closely with all of our resources, members, friends and colleagues in the coming months!
Happy New Year!
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Sharing a Global Perspective |
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This year IVCLA looks forward to once again welcoming our international participants to Greater Los Angeles. In the meantime, we are continuing to create virtual programming for our International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) participants. While it’s not the same as meeting in person, we are pleased to be able to build dialogue and communication channels with our remarkable visitors from around the world in creative ways. |
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City Diplomacy is a growing trend in our interconnected world as municipal governments invest in international diplomacy for a global vision linked to local interests and capabilities. The citizens benefit directly when local authorities leverage their global contacts and team up with public officials, private entities, and educational institutions to build political, cultural, economic and security ties around the world.
The panelists discussed examples of city-lead initiatives that have inspired global dialogue and cooperation. Climate policy is one of the best examples of this. Cities have the unique ability to implement robust climate policies because they are maintained and monitored on a smaller scale. Local government can more easily track the effect of their environmental policies. In this way, cities become a prime example of what directives work and can help set the tone for national and international policy. Climate policy is also a great example of citizen diplomacy. The world-wide public demonstrations and citizen pressure to increase climate policy is building a sense of urgency around climate change. As cities are feeling the pressure to make changes, they are sharing best practices and learning from each other. Hopefully these collaborations will set a tone for the entire world and lead to dramatic changes to global climate policies.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided another prime example of the importance of local governments’ global connections. During the early months of the pandemic it was necessary for local governments to take a lead role in asserting what policies were most effective in the COVID-19 response; this involved major collaboration at the public health level. Much of this was city, county and state level decision-making. For Los Angeles, learning what did and did not work in other cities helped to set the standards. The European cities that had some of the earliest contact with the outbreak were especially helpful in sharing what they had learned.
Programs like the IVLP are an example of international collaboration at the city and citizen level. Participants and speakers share information about the most effective policies in their communities and how these policies can impact other communities around the globe. IVCLA is proud to facilitate these connections that can lead to solutions to our global challenges.
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IVCLA is proud to serve as a partner with Global LA. Global LA is a public-private partnership initiative that strives to attract international businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits and more to Los Angeles to help strengthen our economy and build global connections. International exchange and dialogue is more important than ever. As a facilitator of global discourse, we are thrilled to be a part of this exciting new mission for Los Angeles! |
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Congratulations Board Member Rima Nashashibi! |
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IVCLA proudly announces our Board Member Rima Nashashibi, founder and president of Global Hope 365, has been recognized in the OC Register Newspaper’s Top 125 Influencers in Orange County, California!
As founder of Global Hope 365 and the related CA Coalition to End Child Marriages, Rima has helped lead the charge on recent state and federal legislation aimed at ending child marriages and guarding against sex trafficking. She has also pushed a growing number of cities to pass their own resolutions this year in support of child marriage bans. You can read the full article here.
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Board Member Jonathan Kaji Runs for Torrance City Council |
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IVCLA does many programs for our international visitors about civic engagement and local elections, so we are pleased to share that IVCLA Board Member Jonathan Kaji is running for the Torrance City Council in District 1 Torrance City Council 2022.
Jonathan is an active member of the community, in addition to serving on the IVCLA Board he is a member of the Little Tokyo Community Council and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California. He also served as a Commissioner for the State of California Commission on Economic Development and as a Director on the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation Board. The Torrance District 1 election takes place on June 7, 2022.
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PUBLIC DIPLOMACY 3.0: MAPPING THE NEXT STAGES OF TECHNOLOGICAL DISRUPTION
Digital platforms have revolutionized the practice of public diplomacy in the past decade by making it possible for ministries of foreign affairs, embassies and international organizations to reach out and engage with foreign publics directly, in large numbers, in real-time and with great impact. At the same time, the very conditions that have allowed public diplomacy to prosper in the digital space appear now to be responsible for fostering a growing sense of “social media fatigue” and a lack of confidence in the digital future of public diplomacy.
On January 20, CPD Faculty Fellow Corneliu Bjola, Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies at the University of Oxford, will join CPD for a moderated conversation with CPD Faculty Fellow Aimei Yang, Associate Professor of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, about how we must start looking beyond social media and explore the potential contributions that the next generation of digital technologies may make to the practice of public diplomacy. This discussion will explore the extent to which artificial intelligence, extended reality and cloud computing may be able to 'shake up' the field of public diplomacy, in what directions, and with what normative implications.
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The event takes place Thursday, Jan 20th at 9:00 AM PST
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INFORMATION AT WAR: A BOOK TALK WITH PHILIP SEIB
A war’s outcome is determined by more than bullets and bombs. In our digital age, the proliferation of new media venues has magnified the importance of information—whether its content is true or purposely false—in battling an enemy and defending the public.
Join noted author, journalist and public diplomacy scholar, Philip Seib (CPD Faculty Fellow), for a conversation on his new book, Information at War: Journalism, Disinformation, and Modern Warfare, which illuminates some of the thorniest issues on the contemporary agenda. Information at war affects us all, and this book shows us how.
Moderating this program is Patricia Riley, CPD Faculty Fellow and USC Annenberg Associate Professor of Communication and Global Communication M.A. Director. Seib and Riley will discuss situations in which untruthful and inflammatory information poisons a nation’s political processes and weakens its social fabric, as well as appropriate responses. How can media literacy help citizens defend against information warfare? And, should militaries place greater emphasis on crippling their adversaries with information rather than through kinetic force?
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This event takes place Tuesday, Jan 25th at 10:00 AM PST
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International Opportunities |
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2022 World Trade Week Scholarships are now open!
Each year, the World Trade Week committee offers scholarships to aspiring students in international trade fields. Scholarships are awarded to outstanding graduating high school seniors entering an accredited college or university with the goal of a career in international trade, as well as college students pursuing international degrees. By fostering international trade education and international business development, the committee hopes to develop a network of international trade professionals willing to provide mentoring to future students interested in international business.
Learn more about World Trade Week's education initiatives here.
2022 Scholarship applications are open!
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Stay Informed on COVID-19 |
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The COVID-19 vaccines are allowing many countries to begin their path to more normal lifestyles. However, that is not the case for all countries - as the infographic global report in the link below illustrates. IVCLA’s staff and board send good thoughts to all our colleagues and international alumni around the globe. We can all do our part to lend support to others, not only in Los Angeles, but all over the world. This unprecedented global crisis will be solved by coming together to share all of our knowledge, expertise, and goodwill. We are stronger together!
An informative, infographic global report of the COVID-19 data is HERE
Free COVID-19 Testing Available for Angelenos HERE
Now Free COVID-19 Vaccination Without Appointment HERE
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IVCLA's in-person programming will partially resume this year.
We look forward to welcoming more remarkable visitors from around the world as soon as it is safe. In the meantime, as the entire world works together to put an end to the pandemic, IVCLA continues to reach out and stay in contact with our international alumni. If you are an IVLP Alumni who would like to share your thoughts about your L.A. IVLP experience, or if you are an IVCLA member or resource who has stayed in touch with alumni and would like to share your experience, please contact Eleanor Alberg at ealberg@ivcla.org.
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Editor: Eleanor Alberg
Communications & Events Coordinator
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© International Visitors Council of Los Angeles. A non-profit, non-partisan organization. Partial funding provided by the United States Department of State, the County of Los Angeles, and the City of Los Angeles. | Privacy Policy
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