Community Connections

International House and our partners at USAID work together to bring groups from the former Soviet Union to America through a program called Community Connections.

Community Connections is a professional training program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for participants from the Republics of the former Soviet Union. Since 1994, USAID has relied on International House to implement this initiative in Charlotte.

Community Connections offers three to five-week home-stay based practical training opportunities in the US for entrepreneurs, local government officials, non-governmental organization leaders and other professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. It is designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values between participants and the local community.

Specifically, the goals of the Community Connections program are to:

• Provide participants with professional training and exposure to day-to-day functioning of a free market system;
• Encourage public-private partnerships in Europe/Eurasia by including private sector and government participants on U.S. visits;
• Create links between U.S. and Europe/Eurasia regions and communities.

To get involved in International House citizen diplomacy programs, click here.