Summer 2016 is Here. Let the Road Trip Begin.
Posted on Thursday, July 7th, 2016 at 3:58 pm.Pack your bags, grab your passports, and start your engines. The Route J-1 blog is back with a new and exciting line-up of stories, directly from the J-1 Exchange Visitor community. Join us as we take a road trip across the United States and around the world. You’ll see how the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program is connecting people and creating opportunities for cross cultural learning and understanding.
Here are the people who will share their stories in our new community written posts:
- Meet current J-1 Exchange Visitors and learn about their program experiences and adventures in the United States. J-1s are located in cities big and small across the country, and they are giving back to their communities through volunteerism, supporting local industries through their work, and creating lasting friendships and ties with their American friends and colleagues.
- Learn from J-1 Alumni worldwide and see how they are leveraging the skills and knowledge they gained in the United States during their exchange programs. J-1 Alumni return home to run their own businesses, address global challenges, and enact positive change in their local communities. Meet and be inspired by these incredible leaders and change makers.
- Visit local communities and see how they come together to support, learn, and promote J-1s living in their cities and towns. Many go above and beyond because they believe in the J-1 experience. This includes our network of homestay families, host employers, and host organizations where J-1s work, live, study, teach, do research, share their specialized skills, or receive on-the-job training.
Check back each week for a new post and new perspectives. Now, let’s get this journey started. The Route J-1 road trip will be a life-changing experience.
Sincerely,
The Route J-1 Team
Categories: Program Spotlight
U.S. Embassies Engage J-1 Participants to Strengthen Relations
Posted on Thursday, March 24th, 2016 at 2:22 pm.
J-1 Summer Work Travel alumni and prospective participants socialize and enjoy the photo exhibit.
The State Department is serious about relationship building with our exchange participants. That’s why we support alumni networks around the world. Recently, many of our embassies have increased efforts to engage participants from J-1 privately-funded jexchanges, so that the investment participants have made in their futures can be leveraged through association with other participants. We are excited to include these participants in our long-term alumni networks and outreach, and have seen much interest from participants to stay in touch with our embassies overseas.
Read More ›
Categories: J-1 Visa, Participants, Program Spotlight
In Florida, Au Pair Cultural Activities Are A-maze-ing
Posted on Friday, March 11th, 2016 at 5:36 pm.
Learning about American culture and building life-long memories is at the heart of the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program, including for au pairs. Au pair program sponsors facilitate monthly meet-ups, where local and regional coordinators engage au pairs in cultural events, such as city tours, holiday celebrations, sporting events, volunteer activities, and many others. Here is an example of one such activity that took place in Jacksonville, Florida:
Read More ›
Categories: Participants, Program Spotlight
Putting the EVP to Work: Multiplying the Impact of Youth Change Makers
Posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2016 at 11:19 pm.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Robin Lerner with EGLI Corps Fellows (From left to right: Atlas Corps CEO Scott Beale, Fellow Farhad Ahmed Jarral, Fellow Mayada Hassanain Osman, Deputy Assistant Secretary Robin Lerner, Special Advisor for Global Youth Issues Andy Rabens, Fellow Olga Smolenchuk, and Fellow Anna-Kim Robinson.)
The J-1 Exchange Visitor Program provides the U.S. Department of State endless ways to create innovative partnerships and meaningful programs for young professionals around the world. Today, I would like to tell you about an interesting and inspiring public-private partnership the State Department has, thanks to the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program. Last month, we celebrated the one year anniversary of the Emerging Global Leader Initiative (EGLI) – Atlas Corps Fellowship. This fellowship was created as part of President Obama’s Stand with Civil Society agenda. Through this partnership, the State Department committed to working with Atlas Service Corps to bring 100 of the world’s emerging civil society professionals to the United States for 12-month professional fellowship programs under the J-1 training program. The fellowship offers full funding for training programs in civil society, non-profit, and for-profit enterprises, and it exposes the fellows to cutting edge best practices, while incorporating the participants into perhaps the most important network of their lives.
Categories: Program Spotlight
Relationship Building: The Heart of International Exchanges
Posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2016 at 9:21 pm.
Darra Klein (right), and her lifelong friend, David Čeljuska (center) attending Baltimore’s annual Slovak festival in 2001 with another friend.
“International exchanges – especially those for young people taking the first steps of their professional lives – are strong and life changing experiences. It’s important to keep the international connections you make during an exchange alive because they have a powerful impact on your life, as well as others. Let’s face it, at the heart of it, international exchanges are about the relationships you make and maintain.”
Categories: J-1 Visa, Participants, Program Spotlight
Looking Back at 2015 (Part 2)
Posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2016 at 6:20 pm.Today, we continue to highlight some of our favorite J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program memories from 2015. We’re looking back and celebrating all that we’ve accomplished. See how community groups and host organizations embraced and expanded the reach of the program, sponsors created the best possible experience for participants, and participants enacted positive change in their local communities.
Here are more highlights from 2015 – an amazing year:
In New York City, J-1 participants came out to enjoy the day while cleaning up Riverside Park.
Categories: Program Spotlight
Looking Back at 2015
Posted on Thursday, December 31st, 2015 at 7:24 pm.New Year’s is a time to reflect and reminisce about the past year and to look to the year ahead with new goals and resolutions. In the spirit of the season, let’s take a moment to reflect on some of the accomplishments of the Exchange Visitor Program over the past year.
- We’ve seen community groups embrace and expand the reach of the program.
- We’ve worked with over 1,420 sponsors (for-profit, non-profit, federal, state, and local government entities) to create the best possible experiences for participants.
- We’ve built new networks with leaders of other countries to strengthen important bilateral relationships and strengthen the program.
- And we’ve provided opportunities for almost 275,000 foreign visitors to experience the United States, its society and culture, while engaging with Americans.
Let’s look back at some of the highlights from this amazing year:
Assistant Secretary Ryan and Under Secretary for North American Affairs for the Government of Mexico Sergio Alcocer sign the Memorandum of Understanding
Categories: Program Spotlight
Community Engagement: Experiencing a New Kind of Family
Posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2015 at 3:26 pm.
Park City, Utah at night
Nestled in the Synderville Basin of the Rocky Mountains, decorated with snowcapped mountains and frosted evergreens, Park City, Utah is an example of a town that has fully embraced the Exchange Visitor Program. In Park City, Summer Work Travel and Intern/Trainee participants are an integral and rich part of the social fabric, lifeblood, and heart of this seasonal resort community.
Each December hundreds of J-1s officially call Park City their temporary home. For participants, it’s often a season of “firsts” – first job, first time living on their own, and first time seeing snow, since many of them are traveling from the Southern Hemisphere (Argentina, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay), as well as Australia and New Zealand, on their summer breaks, which is winter in the United States and the Northern Hemisphere. With all these firsts, community engagement is an essential ingredient for making participants feel welcome in their new hometowns.
Categories: Program Spotlight
Long-Lasting
Posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 at 9:58 pm.
The new SWT alumni association kicks off with a big social event in Sofia.
What do you think makes an international exchange program powerful?
I think about this all the time. I feel it takes an open-minded and excited participant, a dedicated host, a sponsor who knows how to be a true resource to both, a welcoming community, and setting the right expectations. I think that with all of those elements in place, your exchange experience will exceed the expectations you set.
When that happens, I suspect you will go home feeling different, perhaps deeply changed, with new ideas and unusual aspirations. That change can be hard for your family and friends back home to understand. It is even possible that you will feel your society lacking in something that you can’t quite pinpoint. You will begin yearning to share your experiences with other people like you, not just on Facebook, but in your hometown. If you can’t find that connection, maybe you will feel lost for a little while.
Categories: Program Spotlight
On #GivingTuesday, We Thank the J-1 Students Who Give Back Every Day
Posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 at 8:19 pm.
“I’m so thankful for being in this family!” Citlalli Espinosa, J-1 au pair
It’s Giving Tuesday, and we want to highlight how J-1s and their hosts give back and share every day.
First, thank you to all the J-1s who gave back all year long. Even little things like teaching your host family about your culture is giving back and making us all more globally minded. It is also worth noting how so many of you have risen to the challenge to help this year in your host communities. From J1Day to the NYC Marathon, I love seeing so many of you having fun while showing your J-1 spirit. Read More ›
Categories: Program Spotlight
| About Rebecca Pasini Deputy Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Exchange | |
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Rebecca A. Pasini joined the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Exchanges in July 2023. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister - Counselor, Ms. Pasini has been an American diplomat since 1997.
Ms. Pasini previously served as the Director of Public and Congressional Affairs in the Bureau of Consular Affairs from 2021-2023. Other Washington assignments have included positions in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, the Office of Foreign Missions, and as a liaison to the Department of Homeland Security. She has also completed multiple overseas tours, including as Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs in Islamabad, Pakistan, and as the Consular Chief in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Other tours included Mexico City and Kuwait.
A Maryland native, Ms. Pasini has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University, a master’s degree in National Security and Resource Strategy from the Eisenhower School, National Defense University, and an undergraduate degree from Mary Washington College.
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