RECENT, CURRENT & UPCOMING EXCHANGES

CURRENT:

BOARD DELEGATION TO NAKHODKA: A small delegation of Board members traveled to Nakhodka in May 2004 to identify partners for a future drug abuse prevention program and to work to establish an alumni club with Nakhodkans who have traveled to Oakland on past exchanges.  Come to our Annual Meeting on December 9, 2004 to hear about the trip!

RECENT:

OPEN WORLD LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 2003: ONSCA hosted a second delegation under the auspices of this program in June 2003. Our visitors were all professionals from Nakhodka who are focused on drug abuse related issues: 3 doctors from the substance abuse treatment center, one pediatrician, and a journalist. We look forward to ongoing communication with them and the November 2002 delegation.

MEDICAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT: In March 2002 Anthony Barnett MD, a family physician, and Lisa Handwerker PhD, MPH , a public health specialist, spent 12 days in Nakhodka carrying out a health care needs assessment. While in Nakhodka they visited and talked with staff at 10 sites and took part in two roundtable discussions, one focused on HIV-AIDS and the other on community responses to health care needs. The report they wrote on their return is serving as the basis for proposals for future exchanges designed to address some of the health care needs identified during their visit.

OPEN WORLD RUSSIAN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 2002: November 2002, five health and education professionals from Nakhodka spent a week in Oakland. The visitors were sponsored by the Open World Russian Leadership Program, funded by Congress and administered out of the Library of Congress. Small delegations of young leaders in the areas of education reform, health, women's concerns, the judicial system, environment, youth issues, economic development, and federalism spend 8 days meeting with their local counterparts in communities around the country. The goal of the program is to have the visitors meet with civic organizations, the business community, and other local institutions and to participate in local community events, leading to an understanding of the role of citizenry and community organizations' interactions with the government.