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Background
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:
Training
and Methodology
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:
State and
Local Government
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: Homeland
Security and Public Safety
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:
Foreign
Policy and International
Relations
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:
Rule of
Law
:
:Agriculture
/ Agri Business:
:
Journalism
and Media
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:
NGO/Non-Profits
:
:
Higher
Education
:
:
Economic
Development/International
Programs
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:
Women・s
Issues
:
:
E-Commerce
and E-Government
:
:Dispute
Resolution:
:
Youth
Education
:
:The
Arts:
:
Other
Services
:
Background
International Visitors Council (IVC)
of Columbus, Ohio is a
non-profit, 501(C)(3),
international education program
that serves international
visitors in Central Ohio.
IVC・s mission is, ・to build
partnerships between Central
Ohioans and citizens of other
countries that strengthen
democratic ideals, encourage
economic development, and
promote cultural understanding
through the exchange of
knowledge and ideas.・
Founded in 1965, IVC has hosted
hundreds of visitors from over
60 different countries. With
diverse partnerships in the
Columbus area, IVC strives in
its programming efforts to
create a positive and
educational view of Americans
for our visitors, while
simultaneously combating the
negative stereotypes that often
inhibit international relations.
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Training and Methodology
IVC has participated in a number
of fee-for-service type
programs, primarily the
Community Connections Program
and the Open World Program,
which strive to develop
relationships between the people
and communities of Central Ohio
and international visitors
through innovative training and
mutually beneficial professional
and cultural exchanges. For the
last ten years, IVC has
successfully scheduled and
programmed for an average of
four Community Connections
Programs per year, most often
for groups of ten each from
Ukraine, Moldova, Russia and
Kazakhstan. This continued
success has helped to build a
large group of community
volunteers willing to assist
with various aspects of
international guests・ visits.
The International Visitors
Council of Columbus arranges
focused programs and promotes
cultural awareness through
activities specifically designed
for each individual or group of
visitors. IVC has over 40 years
of experience in program
development working closely with
local businesses, corporations,
state and federal governmental
agencies, as well as
institutions of higher education
in the Central Ohio region.
Professional working
relationships with a network of
experts in a variety of fields
allows IVC to organize
professional meetings, on-site
visits and tours, job shadowing
and volunteering experiences,
speaking opportunities, round
table, panel discussions,
workshops, and schooling. This
diverse network helps IVC
coordinate specialized
itineraries to best accommodate
each group of visitors while
maintaining the organization・s
primary objectives of promoting
democracy, economic development,
and cultural awareness.
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State and Local Government
IVC takes full advantage of the
numerous democratic and
educational institutions that
Columbus offers. As the capital
of Ohio, Columbus is home to a
variety of legislative,
judicial, and executive branches
of government, such as the Ohio
General Assembly, the Ohio
Supreme Court and the governor・s
office. IVC works regularly with
experts in the Ohio Department
of Development to train and
educate visitors in economic
development planning. IVC
Columbus is particularly strong
in the area of government due to
a number of our board members
holding either elected or senior
staff positions in Congressional
Offices, the Ohio・s Governor・s
Office, and the Columbus Mayor・s
Office, all of which have
resulted in direct access to our
elected officials for our
visiting groups.
Ohio General Assembly:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/
Ohio Government Website:
http://ohio.gov/
Franklin County Administration:
http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/
City of Columbus:
http://www.ci.columbus.oh.us/
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Homeland Security and
Public Safety
The Ohio Office of Homeland
Security (http://www.homelandsecurity.ohio.gov/hls.asp),
which works under The Ohio
Department of Public Safety (http://ohiopublicsafety.com/odps.asp),
familiarizes visitors regarding
the increased concerns of
Homeland Security since the
terrorist attacks on September
11, 2001. The Ohio Office of
Homeland Security offers
presentations on the
distribution of its state funds
as well as on Ohio・s unique
geographical location, and how
it continues to keep the state
safe, while at the same
time-sharing a large open border
with Canada via Lake Erie. Here,
visitors are trained and learn
about our federal funding system
and how federal dollars are
allocated to the states and how
those funds are then directed at
the state level. Executive
Director, John Overly, as met
personally with nearly every
Community Connections group
coordinated by IVC and since the
inception of the Office of
Homeland Security in 2002.
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Foreign Policy and
International Relations
The International Visitors・
Council of Columbus is very
fortunate to have the Mershon
Center for International Studies
at The Ohio State University (www.mershon.ohio-state.edu.),
a nationally and internationally
known center for excellence
regarding foreign policy and
international affairs. The
Center currently focuses its
research on four key areas of
international security: 1)The
use of force and diplomacy in
international relations, 2) The
study of political and economic
decision-making that affects war
and peace, 3) Culture and
Identity and their impact on
national security, 4) Law and
institutional management of
violent inter-group conflict
that might arise from a variety
of causes, including conflicting
material interests, normative
beliefs or resource scarcity and
usage. One of the Center・s
primary areas of focus is the
Commonwealth of Independent
States, the states of the former
Soviet Union. The Director,
Dr. Richard Herrmann, has
personally visited with nearly
every Community Connections
group hosted through IVC
Columbus for a decade. He has
traveled frequently to the CIS
states and always invites
numerous other distinguished
faculty members to join with him
in meeting the visiting
delegations. We would hope you
will take the opportunity to
visit their web site.
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Rule of Law
Columbus is very fortunate to
have two major law schools: The
Ohio State University and
Capital University. Nationally
recognized faculty members from
both law schools work with IVC
and its visitors on a regular
basis. Additionally, the Chief
Justice of the Ohio Supreme
Court, has made five (5)
official visits to his
counterparts in Ukraine and has
repeatedly donated his time to
assist in the education and
training of Rule of Law
participants. Also, IVC has a
board member who has provided
excellent leadership training by
taking Rule of Law groups for
several days to familiarize them
with our 15 judges of the
Municipal Court that handles
lesser (misdemeanor) cases, our
16-member Court of Common Pleas,
which handles larger, felony
cases, as well as our Probate
Court, eight-judge
Juvenile/Domestic Relations
Court and the 10th District
Court of Appeals.
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Agriculture/Agri-business
Columbus is the home of The
Ohio State University, the
nation・s largest public
university and the largest
college of which is the College
of Food, Agriculture and
Environmental Sciences (www.cfaes.osu.edu).
The nationally-ranked college
offers the very latest in
agricultural technology as well
as an entire department for
Agri-business. They also
administer OSU Ag Extension
Program, which outreach efforts
focus on four areas:
agriculture and natural
resources, family and consumer
sciences, community development
and 4-H Youth development
programs. The College also
operates the Ohio Agricultural
Research and Development Center
in Wooster, OH.
Also, the Scotts Company, a
7-billion dollar agri-business
headquartered in Columbus and
Marysville, OH., that began as
Miracle-Gro in 1951 (www.scotts.com).
・Dedicated to a beautiful world
through innovation partnerships,
resource conservation and
environmental stewardship,・ the
Scotts Company offers great
opportunity for Community
Connections Program
internships.
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Journalism and Media
IVC has an excellent working
relationship with The Columbus
Dispatch, Columbus・ daily
newspaper (www.dispatch.com).
The staff of the Dispatch has
repeatedly met with our numerous
visitor groups to discuss
current events issues, issues
the delegates are facing in
their home countries as well as
hosting interns through the
Community Connections program.
Other local media outlets
include Suburban News
Publications (http://www.snponline.com/),
as well as the local CBS
affiliate, WTVN, and WOSU, the
Public Broadcasting Station in
Columbus. All combined, these
resources offer our visitors a
well-rounded familiarization of
independent, privately-owned as
well as government-sponsored
media from very large to very
local.
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NGO/Non-Profits
IVC partners with a number of
non-profit organizations located
in Columbus. Over the past 10
years, each organization has
proven to be very valuable to
the many visiting NGO groups
visiting through the Community
Connections Program. Among these
non-profits, FirstLink Columbus
(www.firstlink.org),
a large clearinghouse of
community services, offers a
mentoring center, training, and
a myriad of volunteer
opportunities that our NGO
visitors have found extremely
valuable. FirstLink has served
as the primary training partner
with IVC Columbus regarding the
Community Connections program
and the FirstLink President/CEO,
Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, has
participated in several
follow-on visits to countries of
our former delegations.
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Higher Education
IVC works with a number of
educational institutions in
order to give its visitors
insight into American academia.
With IVC board members
representing The Ohio State
University (www.osu.edu),
the nation・s largest university,
Franklin University (http://www.franklin.edu/),
a private four-year university,
and Columbus State Community
College (http://www.cscc.edu/),
Ohio・s second largest two-year
technical school, IVC is able to
train visitors in a multitude of
academic areas. Franklin
University・s representative on
the IVC board, Phyllis Duryee,
serves as our training
coordinator in our partnership
with Franklin University
regarding the Community
Connections program.
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Economic
Development/International
Programs
In the area of Economic
Development, IVC strives to
involve its diverse mix of board
members in order to best ensure
an excellent program. Included
in this area of training are
meetings with the governor・s
International Trade and Economic
Development Division・s Deputy
Director, Kirk Merritt, who
presents an educational overview
of Ohio・s aggressive
international economic
development program. Also,
presentations by board member
Phyllis Duryee, Director of the
International Program at
Franklin University as well as
by Bob Queen, Administrator of
International Initiatives at
Columbus State Community
College, and by Dr. Jerry Ladman,
Vice-Provost for International
Affairs at The Ohio State
University, help to train
visitors in the various aspects
of economic development.
Int・l Trade and Economic
Development Division:
http://www.odod.state.oh.us/itd/
Franklin University:
http://www.franklin.edu/prospective/international/
The Ohio State University
International Affairs:
http://oia.osu.edu/
Columbus State Community College
(http://www.cscc.edu/)
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Women・s Issues
IVC Columbus has an excellent
working relationship with the
Women・s Fund of Central Ohio (www.womensfundcentralohio.org),
and its Executive Director,
Sharon Steele. Founded by
prominent women of Columbus and
Central Ohio in 2001, the
organization・s mission is ・to
transform the lives of women by
mobilizing the collective power
and passion of all women working
together.・ They offer training
on women・s issues, forums where
prominent women・s issues figures
are brought into Columbus,
networking, grant and
scholarship opportunities.
We also enjoy an excellent
working relationship with The
Hon. JoAnn Davidson, the only
female ever to serve as Speaker
of the Ohio House of
Representatives (1995-2000), and
current Co-Chairman of the
Republican National Committee in
Washington, D.C. Now President
of JAD Associates, Mrs. Davidson
has long been involved at the
forefront, both nationally and
locally, of governmental policy
issues. The JoAnn Davidson Ohio
Leadership Institute (www.jadleadershipinstitute.com)
offers training and guidance to
emerging female leaders in the
areas of government and
politics.
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E-Commerce and
E-Government
Columbus enjoys a reputation as
one of the national centers for
E-Commerce and E-Government
program development. Also,
Columbus is fortunate to be home
to the Online Computer Library
Center (http://www.oclc.org/),
a computer library service and
research organization dedicated
to the public purposes of
furthering access to the world's
information and reducing
information costs. More than
53,548 libraries in 96 countries
and territories around the world
use the services of the Online
Computer Library Center to
locate, acquire, catalog, lend,
and preserve library materials.
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Dispute Resolution
The Ohio Commission on Dispute
Resolution and Conflict
Management
www.disputeresolution.ohio.gov
provides constructive,
non-violent forms, methods,
processes and training
techniques for resolving
disputes. An agency of the
State of Ohio, IVC Columbus has
coordinated training with the
Commission through our
Governor・s Office board member,
Roman Fedkiw. The Commission
has always enjoyed providing
training opportunities to our
delegates and the delegates have
always rated the Commission very
highly on our program・s exit
surveys.
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Youth Education
While IVC primarily utilizes the
resources of the three
institutions of higher education
located in Columbus, we have
also done excellent programming
in the recent past with local
school systems like Columbus
Public Schools, our 60,000+
public school system. In
contrast, Columbus also has a
large, private, Catholic school
system comprised of both
Catholic and non-Catholic
students. Furthermore, there are
several suburban school
districts, which are much
smaller and face different
problems than the large urban
school district. Through seeing
these three different school
districts, visitors are able to
receive a well-rounded
understanding of the varied
school systems common in large,
metropolitan cities like
Columbus.
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The Arts
◦ Opera Management. IVC has
three (3) primary partners in
this area: Opera Columbus (www.operacolumbus.org),
the Ohio State University School
of Music (http://music.osu.edu),
and the Wexner Center for the
Arts located on the OSU campus (www.wexarts.org).
・Opera
Columbus, with its full time
staff and company, perform
classical opera from Verdi・s
・Aida・ to Puccini・s ・Madama
Butterfly・ to more contemporary
opera, as well. They also have
the Opera Columbus Academy, a
community outreach and training
endeavor that we feel
participants would find most
interesting. Please visit the
Opera Columbus website and
review their Artistic Director,
staffing, cast and performance
calendar.
・The Ohio
State University School of
Music, located just north of
downtown Columbus, is the
largest university in the United
States with an undergraduate
enrollment of over 50,000
students. The School of Music
has an excellent opera/voice
section of its performance
division that enjoys an
excellent national reputation.
The website presents bios of all
voice faculty members.
・The Wexner
Arts Center is co-located with
the OSU School of Music.
Founded and funded by Columbus
billionaire resident, Les Wexner
(The Limited, GAP, Victoria・s
Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch,
etc.), money has been no object
in the establishment of this
nationally and
internationally-acclaimed arts
center. It is both a large,
state-of-the-art, world class
performing arts facility as well
as a certified Arts Center of
Excellence.
◦ IVC・s board
member, Dr. Jerry Ladman, is
Vice-Provost for International
Affairs at the university and
actively assists all IVC-related
programming there.
◦ Jazz Music. Columbus,
Ohio has a number of excellent
resources in this area, most
notably the Columbus Jazz
Orchestra (www.columbusjazzorchestra.com).
As their website indicates, for
33 years now, they have been one
of the finest regional jazz
groups in the entire country,
maintaining a subscription
series and hosting all of the
nation・s finest jazz performers
and composers. The Columbus
Jazz Orchestra・s permanent new
home is the very beautiful,
historic and completely
refurbished Southern Theatre in
downtown Columbus. IVC has long
standing, excellent personal and
professional relationships with
this outstanding organization
and their fulltime staff
members. They have always very
willingly agreed to assist IVC
with any of our programming
needs, not only regarding
performance, but overall
management, marketing, etc. We
are certain that participants
would find the CJO experience
extremely rewarding. The CJO・s
historic venue is beautiful with
a 1,800 seat capacity and they
would experience large audiences
for every performance as well as
some of the finest
professional-level jazz being
performed in the United States
today. We would encourage you
to visit the CJO website.
◦ Traditional Arts &
Music. For our third program
area, we would like to discuss
our planning possibilities in
the traditional arts and music
area. Columbus has an excellent
orchestra, the Columbus Symphony
Orchestra (www.columbussymphony.com).
Maestro Junichi Hirokami, a
native of Japan, is the new
Conductor/Music Director of the
symphony. In its 54th year, the
symphony offers a 45-week
performance season featuring
more than 100 members
(fifty-four full time chairs) in
the truly beautiful Ohio Theatre
on Capitol Square. The symphony
also operates twenty educational
and community outreach programs,
four youth orchestras and has an
annual operating budget in excel
of 11 million dollars. Several
of our board members are
corporate board members of the
symphony, as well, which accords
IVC excellent access to all
levels of the symphony・s
operations. We would also like
to direct you to additional
resources at IVC・s disposal:
◦ Ballet Met (www.balletmet.org)
◦ Columbus Association for the
Performing Arts (CAPA) (www.capa.com)
◦ Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra (www.promusicacolumbus.org)
◦ Contemporary American Theatre
Company (www.catco.org)
◦ Chamber Music Columbus (www.columbuschambermusic.org)
◦ Red Herring Theatre Ensemble (www.redherring.org)
◦ Columbus Landmarks Foundation
(www.columbuslandmarks.org)
◦ Columbus College of Art &
Design (www.ccad.edu)
◦ Columbus Museum of Art (www.columbusmuseum.org)
◦ Traditional Ohio history
outdoor drama theatre available
early June through
August, as
follows:
◦ Tecumseh (www.tecumsehdrama.com/)
◦ Blue Jacket (www.bluejacketdrama.com/)
◦ Trumpet in the Land (www.trumpetintheland.com/)
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Other Services
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