• Civil Society and Governance
  • Civil Society and Governance Overview
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Civic Education
  • Citizen Participation
  • Advocacy
  • Democratic Governance
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Women's and Minority Rights
  • Disenfranchised Groups
• Education
  • Education Overview
  • Basic Education
  • Higher Education
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
  • Education for Vulnerable Groups
• HIV/AIDS
  • HIV/AIDS Overview
  • HIV/AIDS Prevention
  • Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Institutional Capacity Building
• International Visitors Exchanges
  • International Professional, Academic, and Cultural Exchanges Overview
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Professional Exchanges
  • Youth Exchanges
• Capacity Development and Training
  • Capacity Development and Training Overview
  • Participant Training
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Grant Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Jóvenes en Acción

In partnership with the Department of State, the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP), and various private sector representatives, World Learning and its U.S. community partners will host sixty-five Mexican high school students ages 15-18 for a five-week educational exchange opportunity in the United States July 9-August 11, 2011. A pre-departure orientation, debriefing, and follow-on conference will be held in Mexico City. The goals of the program are to promote mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and Mexico; include significant interaction with American peers and/or families; arrange intensive English language workshops; incorporate service-learning activities to promote a culture of lawfulness; help with the development of individual service projects for students to implement upon return home; prepare youth leaders to become responsible citizens and contributing members of their communities; and significantly influence the attitudes of the leaders of a new generation.

The sixty-five youth participants applied in “cluster groups” from communities across Mexico, with a proposal for a community service project plan tackling issues related to violence/substance abuse prevention and the development of a culture of lawfulness. Participants were selected based on the quality of their project plan proposal, academic achievement, community service, attendance at a public school and English language competency.

The U.S. program begins with a Leadership/Orientation segment at the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute, where the group will take part in intensive English language workshops, teambuilding, leadership, and civic education workshops related to achieving a culture of lawfulness.  Next, the group will be divided into smaller groups for a host community segment to include a week-long Global Leader Education and Engagement (GLEE) Institute in five urban cities in: Baltimore, Maryland; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and Seattle, Washington. The GLEE Institutes will directly support the participants’ project plans and will cover community issues focusing on one of the following themes: Substance Abuse, Personal/Community Development, Violence/Gang Prevention, Social/Community Development, or Domestic Violence and Bullying. The host community segment will also include volunteering, home stays, and cultural events.  Finally, the group will reunite in Washington, D.C. for a Synthesis Workshop to make action plans for follow-on activities. 

Primary Program Contact:
Cari Hlousek Graves, Program Officer, Washington DC 
E-mail: cari.graves@worldlearning.org