Stéphane Brico, Mica Gadhia
Stéphane Brico, our Citizen Diplomacy Program Coordinator, traveled to New Orleans recently to attend the Global Ties Diplomacy Begins Here Summit.
Since 1961, Global Ties U.S. has partnered with the U.S. Department of State to implement the flagship International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and a wide variety of other international exchange and public diplomacy programs. They are the national leader for connecting people and communities in the United States with global leaders through international exchange programs and their work advances U.S. strategic priorities abroad while boosting prosperity here in the U.S. Global Ties U.S. works to harness the diplomatic potential of our country’s greatest asset: our people.
The following summaries spotlight Stéphane’s experience attending the summit and breaks down the importance of the State Department to International House clients, Charlotte and our entire international community.
New Orleans
The experience in New Orleans held immense importance for the Global Ties program as a whole. The program seemed to be a highlight of New Orleans specifically, so hearing the presentations about New Orleans and then actually experiencing the city each night offered a wholistic view.
New Orleans felt quite different from the vibrant image Stéphane had before visiting. It seemed like the city was trying to sell an experience, but it didn’t fully reflect its reality in 2024.
Much of his time there felt commercialized. Staying in the French Quarter was exciting at first, but the mood shifted when the same unhoused individuals slept in the same areas of the streets alongside all of the bustling tourists. It was a clear reminder that the city has its own set of challenges.
Stéphane also experienced many service workers who seemed weary and impatient, perhaps overwhelmed by the demands of serving approximately 20 million visitors each year. Did being underpaid and underappreciated leave local New Orleans employees feeling under the weight of it all?
Walking around Bourbon Street was an adventure unto itself. The crumbling infrastructure, with yards of street simply sunk into the earth blocked off with yellow tape, along with the stench from garbage bins and bags everywhere, all combined with the sweet scent of beignets, to leave the senses reeling from complete bewilderment.
And where was the live music that New Orleans is known for? Great musicians are (were?) a cherished part of the city’s charm, but live music was harder to find than expected.
Beyond its curated attractions including the WWII Memorial Museum, New Orleans is a city that shows both its beauty and its rough edges at every opportunity.
Global Ties US
Of the approximately 75 participants, there seemed to be a good mix of representatives of Community Based Members (CBMs), National Program Agencies (NPAs), and State Department personnel.
The program was well-organized and as is usual for these types of conferences, the networking opportunities were probably the most important part of attending. Stéphane learned about real-life experiences from other CBMs that our own Citizen Diplomacy team will implement in 2025. The two-way communication with the State Department representatives felt limited due to the timing of the event, but he felt comfortable reaching out to them with any remaining questions at a later date.
The State Department and Global Ties US offered access to their leaders through a question-and-answer session which offered insightful information.
The main presentation focused on the financials of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and the deliberations that took place to get to the financial matters that are currently in place. That information was very helpful in understanding more about why the delegation programming has shifted in recent years.
Saving money seems to be pushing the State Department to give priority to CBM cooperation to cut costs on transportation, which is useful to know as our team continues to work hard to bring as many world visitors to Charlotte, NC as possible. To learn more about our Citizen Diplomacy Program and how you can support it, please click here.
Global New Orleans did a great logistical job of creating an easy-flowing program. There was little confusion about directions and expectations and while there was little transportation involved; everything went off without a hitch.
The panel discussions were a bit difficult as the amount of people involved felt limited for interacting with the panelists. The subject most discussed was the city of New Orleans which was an unexpected focus of the event. Stéphane expected the subject to be more IVLP process oriented, which turned out to be instructive in thinking about Charlotte. Throughout his time there, he learned mostly about the organizations that keep New Orleans going. It was, all in all, a glowing portrait of New Orleans.
How Charlotte Will Benefit
Stéphane was able to draw a few useful conclusions for International House and the goals that International House’s Citizen Diplomacy team will aim for in 2025.
The first action item is to concentrate more on collaborative proposals. This means that our Citizen Diplomacy Program team will work hard to coordinate projects with the CBMs in Raleigh, Greensboro and Columbia, SC. Transportation prices have risen so drastically in recent years that the savings from the increased costs alone are a factor in deciding where delegations will visit. This information was validated by several conversations with NPAs during the networking part of the event.
From other CBMs, the second lesson became clear that a major way for Charlotte to nurture relationships with partners is to host routine community events. These networking opportunities will help to shape the local relationships established with International House as one of give and take, as opposed to only taking.
The third conclusion is more general, but just as important. It is easy to fool yourself into believing that you know the city you live in intimately. It is very important though to get input from visitors and partners. People with an outside perspective can highlight the parts of Charlotte that we don’t normally see, hear, or pay attention to. It’s very Important to offer a realistic vision of the place we are in.
That view can now help our city create a plan for bringing more visitors here, which is one of our major goals. If you have thoughts on how we can know more about Charlotte, please reach out to the director through the information at the end of this article.
Stéphane is incredibly grateful for the experience of being in New Orleans to learn from the US State Department, meet others in his same position, while enjoying and learning from what New Orleans really has to offer.
How You Can Help
When we receive visitors to Charlotte, NC, we open our arms, doors, and hearts to them. If you are interested in helping us welcome visitors from all over the world, there are different ways you can partner with International House.
You might:
Host a visitor in your home.
Provide dinner for a visiting group.
Connect our Citizen Diplomacy team with local businesses who are internationally minded.
Donate money so we can continue to do this incredibly important work of creating a more diverse and far-reaching Charlotte community.
Share your thoughts about another way you can support our international visitors.
We’d love to hear from you!
How would you like to support international visitors? Can we connect with you? Reach out to our Citizen Diplomacy Director Alexandra Buckman here (abuckman@ihclt.org).
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