International

Dr Peter Slowe, Founder of Projects Abroad

In the early 1990s, some students wanted a break from study - a "gap year," although the term wasn't yet in common use. They approached their geography professor about traveling and working in Eastern Europe. The professor, Dr. Peter Slowe, had difficulty finding any opportunities for this kind of travel combined with work experience, so he set about arranging for his students to go and teach English in Romania where he knew some fellow academics. This was how Projects Abroad began in 1992.
Projects Abroad today

The International YMCA is a branch of the YMCA of Greater New York. We offer values-based programs that have local and global impact, enhance understanding of the world, and enable people to work together towards peace and justice. Our ability to have local impact, offer national services and access a worldwide network allows us to touch thousands of live each year.

Our projects provide intercultural education through community service. We offer placement in over 3000 IVS projects in more than 100 countries each year, including over 40 in the USA. At each project, volunteers from diverse backgrounds, typically from four or more countries, work and live together like a family. The sharing of everyday life, both with the local community and among the international volunteers, is an integral part of the learning and serving experience.

As peoples of the world become increasingly interdependent we must all recognize that we live in a global community. The future of this community depends upon our self-knowledge as well as upon mutual understanding and respect among diverse cultures. Global Routes deepens these roots of our shared community as we foster personal and international development. Undertaking voluntary work overseas allows North American youth the opportunity to push past stereotypes and misconceptions to build strong relationships and self-understanding, as well as buildings.

Global Citizens Network recognizes the interdependence of people around the world, and that social and economic injustice, racial and ethnic inequality, and ecological loss affect all people. But through cooperative effort, individuals of all cultures can experience and enhance their ability to make a difference in their community and their world. To foster that cooperation,

Free The Children is the world's largest network of children helping children through education, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded in 1995 by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has a proven track record of success.