Ten graduate students will come to the University of Vila Velha next may as exchange students for three weeks.

I am very proud to be partners with Dr. Nora and Dr. Scott from the University of Charleston, WV, with whom I have developed this idea.

Be Welcome!!

Legislative Fellows

We have been working on this wonderful program.

Programa: Legislative Fellows



Instituições Promotoras: US department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Partners of The Americas.

Entidades Convidadas: Municipal, State and Federal Governments; Civic Education Organizations; Citizen Advocacy Groups; Political Parties; Election Monitoring Organizations.

Fellowship Examples:

a) Interação com congressistas e senadores sobre temas legislativos e Jurídicos.

b) Análise das políticas públicas municipais, estaduais e nacionais e suas instituições.

c) Trabalhar com a sociedade civil, organizações e rede de contatos que estejam desenvolvendo e/ou adaptando politicas ou processos de benefício público.

Áreas-alvo: Organizações voltadas à educação cívica; Grupos dedicados às causas públicas; partidos políticos e organizações que monitoram eleições. Mas outras modalidades de instituição são bem-vindas tb.

Períodos:

Abril de 2012 ou Setembro de 2012. O mais indicado é Abril, mas para isso e preciso inscrever-se pela web ate 18 de dezembro de 2011.

Duração: 5 a 6 semanas.

Estados parceiros: Espírito Santo, West Virginia e Washington, DC.

Requisitos:

Ser autorizado pela instituição a que pertence para participar do programa.

Conhecimento da língua inglesa em nível de conversação. Candidatos serão entrevistados por telefone.

Despesas:

O programa cobre gastos com passagem aérea, acomodação, living allowance e seguro saúde para o participante.

Visa: será concedido o Visa J-1.

Site: http://www.partners.net/partners/Legislative_Fellows.asp?

• Formulário de inscrição: http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1122276-PoNJdrbakg

Cordialmente,

Antonio Marcus Carvalho Machado

Economista, professor universitário e Board Member do Partners of The Americas.

action!!!

Take a look on this e-mail  from my friend Arn, member of the West Virginia Chapter. It tells a lot.

1) Educator Exchange Program - We will be hosting 2 English school teachers from Castelo in ES. One is the owner of Stand Up Idiomas School (Silvia Farias) and one is a teacher (Liamara Panini). Liamara has already received her B-1 VISA and Silvia goes to the US Consulate in Rio for her interview tomorrow (12/1). They hope to arrive here the end of December and will stay until early February.



For this program, there is nothing you need to do to provide support. John Carper proposed and sponsored the program and the gals will stay with John and Sue while here. Robin will set up teaching ... observation ... cultural presentation opportunities for these educators at Sissonville area schools while they are here. When, at some later date, we send a teacher or two to ES, we may ask that you help meet them at the airport ... but I suspect that they will spend most of their time up in the mountains near Castelo.


2) Sissonville High School (Second) Student Visit to ES - We are planning a second trip to ES in June, 2012, for 4-6 students plus 2 chaperones (probably Robin and Jerry). I know we have discussed this in the past, but I want to make certain that it is still OK with you.

Because of airfare cost considerations, we have tentatively plan on leaving Charleston on a Wednesday or Thursday in June (13 or 14) ... arriving the next day of course in ES, with a Vitoria departure on the second Sunday (24th) with a Sunday evening layover in Rio and a departure from Galeao International Airport on Monday evening. Of course, we will not set firm dates until we have your comments and you confirm that our planned dates will work for our ES Partners. If it better meets your personal schedule, we could probably move the visit back by one week (6th or 7th) and still get the "out-of-season" airfares. I believe flight prices go up (flying south to Brazil) around the 15th of June.


Like the last SHS group we sent, they will need airport pickup and departure arrangements, local transportation, meals, housing and activities (with any local school or group that the ES partners might choose to work with).


The WV Partners and SHS will be looking forward to greeting a youth or other group from ES in the future to provide a similar warm welcome and hosting arrangement.

Championship game day: this sunday!

After a while, long one, I am back here. Our footbal team is going to play the finals on this sunday against the powerful Corinthians. Remember, it is not soccer, it is north-americam football. Here in Espitrito Santo, Vila Velha, we have "tritoes", the last year champion.

It is going to be a very hard game once the Corinthians have about 7 or 8 north-american guys playing on the team. But we will face them all.

By the way, I am making the final arrangements to set up a visit to Marshall University next year. We will have a group of 6 players going. We already have a sponsor for the airline tickets. As I told here, if I can not make a 100% of an idea, I just make no less than 60%. But I make it come true.

Come on Sunday, here we go!!!

Practice, not playing against!

Well, I must say that our football team is not capable, I think, of facing any professional american football team. But we could at least practice among them to learn something to estimulate the american football down here. By the pics you may have an idea about the equipment and the "size" of our players...but they are fast...haha!

Maybe some high school team....The point is just marketing to estimulate the sports by an exchange program. A coach, for example, could come to our city...

So, maybe taking 5 or 6 playesr up to the US and leting them practice for a week or two would be wonderful!

And remember, these guys in black and orange are the national champs! Te tritões!!!

an e-mail sent this evening...

Dear friends,

Let me try to help in some way. Vila Velha, the city where I live in, started a football team just training on the beach in front of my building. The first thign that came to my mind was to give them a chance to play it for real. I mean with an american team. It was almost two years ago. They tried to do their best, even practicing on the sand. Although didn´t knowing how I never stoped wondering about that possibility.

My daughter Laura studies at Marshall University, in Huntington-WV. She is very connected with the international students bureau and we have been talking about some kind of exchange programs. It is a plant, process and patient methodology.

And so, few days ago a friend came to me and said that he is helping the guys that play american football - and now, after practcing those years on the beach, they won the national championship last year - in Vila Velha. This year they are leading the competition, #1. In the average they are very simple people, with no good family income. But they are very good on what they do.

And I said to my friend: do you think you coud fundraise some money for the airline tickets? And he goes: yes, I think I can work hard on that. There are 50 people to go.

I thought about Marshall team and started to work on this with the help of my daughter Laura. But it could be another one.

the point now is that as long as we fundraise the money to buy the airline tickets we will still need to put them in a hotel or family houses. A hotel could be like 3 of them in each room. It would mean almos 20 rooms. And meals.

The other point would be to get the visa for them. That´s why I am always talking about our connections to the americam Consulate in Rio or the Embassy in Brasilia. I have worked for the American Embassy as a youth ambassador group coordinator and I think I could work hard on this matter. But I still think we need to be in a formal way acknowledged to the Embassy.

So, if you agree that this dream is something that we should pursue, we  need to find out how to give them room and board while there (2 weeks).

The path is not ready, the way does not exist already, but as we walk we may build it.

best regards,

PS: when I talked about this idea to Tasso today I felt that he could even play with our guys!

today we had a wonderful meeting at Tasso´s home. Judge Paulino, his wife Edna, Legislative attorney and their daughter Stella; Tasso and myself talked about the youth summit an the convention in the beautiful Colombia, the gate to the South America.