Congressional Districts Visited by IVLP Participants in 2015

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Congressional Districts Visited by IVLP Participants in 2015

Each year, in order to track the geographic diversity of our programming, we collect a list of the cities that our visitors see as they travel across the country. Last marked the 75th Anniversary of the International Visitor Leadership Program. Using the list of cities from that year we constructed a map to visually show our visitors travels. Would the data points cluster near the coast or major cities? What if we overlaid it with congressional districts? How would the spread be with red and blue districts? In the following maps we tried to discover the answers to those questions and more and the results might be surprising.

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Jesse Clark’s Final Thoughts on His Experience in the U.S. Congress – Republic of Korea National Assembly Exchange

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Jesse Clark in front of a sign noting the distance between Pyeongyang and Seoul at the DMZ

Hey Everyone! It was a very exciting final week of the 2015 U.S. Congress – Republic of Korea National Assembly Exchange Program, and I have more stories than I could possibly put in a single blog post. I am in Chicago right now for a quick layover; so far I’ve taken a two-hour flight from Seoul to Tokyo, had a three-hour layover, and then hopped on a 12-hour flight from Tokyo to Chicago. I still have a two-hour flight back to Bangor, and then a two-hour drive back to the glorious town of Calais, Maine.  For those keeping score at...

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BAPG 2015: Uniting Leaders and Strengthening U.S.-U.K. Relationships

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Representative Adam Schiff with Chris Matheson and Christina Rees MPs in California

Founded in 1977, the British American Parliamentary Group (BAPG) Project is an annual 10-day program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the British Parliament and Meridian International Center that introduces newly elected British Members of Parliament to the American political and party system. Bound together by a unique shared history, the U.S. and U.K. have established a deeply-rooted “Special Relationship” since the mid-twentieth century that reflects an unparalleled level of cooperation between world powers today. Through numerous military and political conflicts, U.S.-U.K. relations have remained defined by a strong alliance in political, economic and foreign affairs. Due to...

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U.S. Congress – Republic of Korea National Assembly Exchange Program – Reflections

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Korean and American delgations at Meridian International Center.

On July 25, 2014 20 young leaders descended upon Washington DC to partake in the 2014 U.S. Congress – Republic of Korea National Assembly Exchange Program. This unique program, funded by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and jointly sponsored by the U.S. Congress and Korean National Assembly, is designed to broaden the perspectives of Korean and American young people on: the legislative process; the history of U.S. – Korean relations; and current economic, political, and security aspects of the bilateral relationship. The program also provides the U.S. and Korean participants with first hand experience of...

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Ukraine – Communicating Strategically

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Posing with Robert Johnson, Legislative Affairs in the Office of Senator Mark Kirk and also the former officer of Senator now President Obama.

Ukraine has been a constant topic in the global news cycle over the past year or so, especially since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014.  The public narrative and the news cycle around that particular event and the subsequent unrest in eastern Ukraine have been driven primarily by Western media on one hand and by Russian media outlets on the other.  Little in this global discussion and debate has been shaped by Ukraine’s own narrative.  One may legitimately ask, “Why is this the case?” In part this has to do with the reality of...

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