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CAMBRIDGE-YEREVAN SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION TO TRAIN TOURISM EDUCATORS FROM ARMENIA

USAID Awards Grant to CYSCA

Cambridge, MA: July 16, 2008--The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) announces receipt of a grant from the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID), administered by World Learning, Inc., for training of 10 tourism educators from Armenia under the USAID Community Connections program. The group will arrive in Boston September 15 and depart Oct 6 for three week training under a program developed by CYSCA and the Middlesex Community College (MCC). The training program is generally aimed at enhancing tourism in Armenia. Included in the group are educators from various universities and institutes in Yerevan involved in teaching tourism.

To read more →CLICK HERE←

The COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS PROGRAM

The Community Connections Program, managed by the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by World Learning, is designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values among participants, U.S. families and local community host organizations. It seeks to establish and strengthen links between U.S. communities and communities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

FOLLOW-ON ACTION PLANS

CYSCA Board member and Director of its Community Connections Program, Jack Medzorian made a follow-on visit to Armenia in September/October 2007 one month after the return of the group. He met with the group to discuss seminars to disseminate the knowledge they gained in the USA. The first of these took place at the Hovhaness Tumanyan Museum in Yerevan on October 10. Approximately 50 museum managers, workers and students from the universities attended. Each of the alumni made a presentation on a specific topic, dealing with the principle issues that were addressed in their USA training program. ....

To read more →CLICK HERE←

CYSCA HOSTED A GROUP OF AVIATION SPECIALISTS FROM YEREVAN

USAID/World Learning Awards Grant

On April 25, 2006, 10 young professionals in the field of aviation arrived from Yerevan for a three-week training visit. CYSCA developed a comprehensive training program on aspects of aviation, from the ticketing process to airport facilities and service on-board the aircraft. The training program, which emphasized customer service to meet international travel standards and included visits to......

To read more →CLICK HERE←

MY EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA

Reflections of CC Alumnus

Misha Tadevosyan

While in Boston I visited ten leading banks and thanks to advance arrangements by CYSCA, I was met kindly and was supplied with valuable information and materials. The most important information I received was related to banking services for start-up enterprises for my use in Armenia. Especially useful were the policies, rules and regulations, models for such services that the American bankers provided to me.

To read more →CLICK HERE←

REUNION IN KAPAN

CC Syunik alumni update

The following are excerpts from a report by Jack Medzorian on a visit by Jack and Eva to Kapan hosted by Lianna Hakobyan , director of the Kapan Music College

Eva and I traveled five long hours from Yerevan to Kapan to meet with the CYSCA alumni of the 2001 CC Education Administrator group from Syunik. While there we were hosted by Lianna Hakobyan, director of the Music College, who put us up in her apartment and provided us with wonderful hospitality.

To read more →CLICK HERE←

HOSTING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

by Jack Medzorian - Program Director

In May 2005, CYSCA completed the US Department of State (USDOS) - sponsored Community Connections (CC) program, which began in 1997. Over nine years, CYSCA hosted 130 professionals and completed 21 follow-on projects in Armenn 21 follow-on projects in Armenia thanks to $1,000,000 of funding support from the USDOS and generous volunteer time and resources.

<>Under the CC program, CYSCA developed and hosted training programs, internships and workshops involving hands-on training for 13 groups of 10 professionals each. Included were groups of entrepreneurs, environmental specialists, tourism specialists, cultural and historical preservation specialists, public health professionals, educators and educational administrators

To read more →CLICK HERE←

CYSCA DONATES EQUIPMENT TO YSU

Scientific Instrument Enables Successful Project

Community Connections (CC), hosted by CYSCA, recently arranged a visit to the Massachusetts State Water Quality Laboratory in Lawrence, MA for Environmental specialists from Armenia. The visit was facilitated with the help of Robert Serabian, Quality Control Manager of the lab. During the visit, Robert suggested the possible donation of their used spectrophotometer to Armenia for use in water quality analysis, since their lab was purchasing a new one. CYSCA wrote to the Commonwealth of MA requesting donation of this unit to Armenia and eventually it was approved.

To read more →CLICK HERE←

CYSCA CONNECTS PERKINS TO ARMENIA

Perkins School Initiates Program for Armenia

In November/December 2003, CYSCA hosted a group of 11ublic health specialists from Gyumri under its U. S. Department of State funded Community Connections program. Included in his group were directors of two schools for handicapped children in Gyumri. CYSCA arranged a visit for these school directors to Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, where they were given the chance to tour the facility and learn about programs for the handicapped.

To read more →CLICK HERE←

ASAP

CYSCA ASAP TWELVE YEARS OLD

             The CYSCA Armenia School Aid Project (CYSCA-ASAP) is now 12 years old and still going strong. Recognizing the urgent need for supplementing the meager budgets of schools in Armenia,   CYSCA director Eva Medzorian founded the school aid project in 1994. Since its inception ASAP has provided critically needed financial and material aid to over 100 schools in Yerevan and the regions from sponsors and donors, all personally delivered by Eva and/or Jack Medzorian. Funds have typically been used to upgrade bathrooms, repair leaking roofs, repair/replace old/ broken desks and chairs, replace broken windows, purchase computers, school supplies, etc. This project has succeeded because of the concept of directly linking a sponsor to a school, monitoring, documenting and verifying the use of the aid, and reporting back to the sponsors.

             The significance of the CYSCA ASAP project is even greater, considering that it set an example for the Knights and Daughters of Vartan, (K of V), a national fraternal organization, which followed CYSCA’s initiative by adopting a parallel Armenia school assistance program in 1995 This has become the flagship Armenia aid program of the K of V.

             CYSCA thanks all of the sponsors for their generous support of this valuable program. Anyone interested in sponsoring a school should contact Eva Medzorian at emedzorian@aol.com for details.

CYSCA RENOVATES SCHOOLS IN BERD

The CYSCA Armenia School Aid Project (ASAP) successfully completed renovation of School #3 in Berd, Armenia, a remote town four hours northeast of Yerevan bordering Azerbaijan. This project was made possible by the initiative of CYSCA supporter, Edward Shooshanian, who raised $35,000 from 100 of his personal outreach of friends and business associates to help rebuild this school of 500 students and 50 teachers.....

To read more →CLICK HERE←

Youth Programs

BEATING WOOL FOR YERMUGS AND OTHER ADVENTURES

Summer 2005 Youth Trip to Yerevan

In July we took seven wonderful high school students on our annual education trip to Yerevan, where they were hosted by English speaking students and their families. Highlights of the trip were a visit to a Yerevan teacher's home village near Yeghegnadzor where the students helped with the family's farm work; a visit to an orphanage near Yerevan; workshops on anti-smoking and on imagining an ideal country, sightseeing, and many other shared activities from soccer to music and dancing.

For more information, →CLICK HERE←

LINKING CLASSROOMS IN CAMBRIDGE AND YEREVAN
The Energy Project -- Spring 2005

In the winter of 2004-05, the 45 students in the two eighth grade science classes at the Tobin School in Cambridge studied how to save energy, taught by Science teacher Tad Sudnick, and r Tad Sudnick, and taught by Science teacher Tad Sudnick, and mock 33 students of the Vardanantz Aspetner (Knights and Daughters of Vartan) School #106 in Yerevan formed an after-school group to study in parallel with them, emailing each other about their progress.

For more information, →CLICK HERE←

NILE RIVER BASIN DIALOGUE

Since February, student after-school clubs at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School and School #190 in Yerevan have been taking on a topic that is far afield from their own daily concerns, and far from their own national boundaries,, but is of global significance. They are researching and taking on the roles of the ten African countries that depend on the water of the Nile Basin. Through email they will enter into a mock negotiation to agree on how to share access to the water.

For more information, →CLICK HERE←

Announcements
`Tourism Education Group Arrives from Armenia Sept. 15 for a three week Community Connections training program Public presentation about tourism in Armenia on September 28 in the afternoon at the Armenian Library and Museum in Watertown (details to follow) A few more host families still needed for Sept. 17 - Oct. 6. Contact Jack Medzorian at 781-729-6457 or jmedzorian@aol.com`
News CAMBRIDGE-YEREVAN SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION TO TRAIN THEATER MANAGERS FROM ARMENIA IN JUNE USAID Awards Grant to CYSCA Cambridge, MA: March 25, 2008--The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) announces receipt today of a grant funded by the USAID and administered by World Learning, Inc. for training of 10 theater managers from Armenia under the U. S. government Community Connections program. They will visit the Boston area from June 12 to July 3, 2008 for a three-week training program organized by CYSCA aimed at improving theater management in Armenia. Included in the group will be theater directors, administrators, producers, art directors, educators, playwrights, fund raisers, PR and marketing specialists and others from both Yerevan and the regions of Armenia. To read more →CLICK HERE← CYSCA HOSTS MUSEUM MANAGERS FROM ARMENIA In June 2007 CYSCA was awarded a grant from the World Learning, Inc. to host ten Museum Managers from Armenia for a 24 day comprehensive training program in Greater Boston. The main goal of the program was to provide visitors with professional training on all aspects of museum management including contemporary methods of exhibiting, fundraising, marketing and promotion of museum activities to attract sponsors and visitors, effective PR, youth education and family programs, modern museum design, new preservation methods, as well as promotion of museum management as part of a program to preserve Armenia’s rich and ancient national heritage and improve tourism development. To read more →CLICK HERE← PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE In this time of troubled international relationships, I am convinced that the sister city idea is ever more important..We continue to join with Sister Cities International in its goal of "promoting peace through mutual respect, understanding cooperation-one individual one community at a time"." A new development this year testifies to the power and appeal of this vision:: last July we met with Los Angeles City Council member Eric Garcetti and agreed to support his city's effort to establish a sister city ith Los Angeles City Council member Eric Garcetti and agreed to support his city's effort to establish a sister city link with Yerevan as well, and to collaborate on programs. Garcetti led a delegation to Yerevan in August and in the subsequent months has been forming a committee in LA. We look forward to working together with them. When I visited Yerevan in September are 2004, the first time since 1986, I was greatly moved by the enthusiasm and excitement of the students and teachers with whom Joanne Hartunian and I launched two after-school projects — one on saving energy and one on diversity in society. Currently, teachers in School #190 are linked to students at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School and several other local high schools in a project proposing answers to the issue of ten African countries sharing access to water in the Nile Basin. On my visit I was impressed with the energy and initiative of our Community Connections alumni in developing their own business and professional training projects as follow-ups to their experiences here with us. I was also very interested in visiting some of the numerous NGOs that are teachedeveloping in Armenia. As these friends and colleagues work against considerable obstacles to create a new economy and society in their republic, I hope we can be inspired by their spirit here in our own city. On April 25 we welcomed ten young professionals who work in the field of aviation-- in Armenia's airline and airports: I can't think of a more appropriate area of work to symbolize the linking of communities, which is our mission. –Suzanne Pearce	Programs Community Connections CAMBRIDGE-YEREVAN SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION TO TRAIN TOURISM EDUCATORS FROM ARMENIA USAID Awards Grant to CYSCA Cambridge, MA: July 16, 2008--The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) announces receipt of a grant from the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID), administered by World Learning, Inc., for training of 10 tourism educators from Armenia under the USAID Community Connections program. The group will arrive in Boston September 15 and depart Oct 6 for three week training under a program developed by CYSCA and the Middlesex Community College (MCC). The training program is generally aimed at enhancing tourism in Armenia. Included in the group are educators from various universities and institutes in Yerevan involved in teaching tourism. To read more →CLICK HERE← The COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS PROGRAM The Community Connections Program, managed by the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by World Learning, is designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values among participants, U.S. families and local community host organizations. It seeks to establish and strengthen links between U.S. communities and communities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. FOLLOW-ON ACTION PLANS CYSCA Board member and Director of its Community Connections Program, Jack Medzorian made a follow-on visit to Armenia in September/October 2007 one month after the return of the group. He met with the group to discuss seminars to disseminate the knowledge they gained in the USA. The first of these took place at the Hovhaness Tumanyan Museum in Yerevan on October 10. Approximately 50 museum managers, workers and students from the universities attended. Each of the alumni made a presentation on a specific topic, dealing with the principle issues that were addressed in their USA training program. .... To read more →CLICK HERE← CYSCA HOSTED A GROUP OF AVIATION SPECIALISTS FROM YEREVAN USAID/World Learning Awards Grant On April 25, 2006, 10 young professionals in the field of aviation arrived from Yerevan for a three-week training visit. CYSCA developed a comprehensive training program on aspects of aviation, from the ticketing process to airport facilities and service on-board the aircraft. The training program, which emphasized customer service to meet international travel standards and included visits to...... To read more →CLICK HERE← MY EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA Reflections of CC Alumnus Misha Tadevosyan While in Boston I visited ten leading banks and thanks to advance arrangements by CYSCA, I was met kindly and was supplied with valuable information and materials. The most important information I received was related to banking services for start-up enterprises for my use in Armenia. Especially useful were the policies, rules and regulations, models for such services that the American bankers provided to me. To read more →CLICK HERE← REUNION IN KAPAN CC Syunik alumni update The following are excerpts from a report by Jack Medzorian on a visit by Jack and Eva to Kapan hosted by Lianna Hakobyan , director of the Kapan Music College Eva and I traveled five long hours from Yerevan to Kapan to meet with the CYSCA alumni of the 2001 CC Education Administrator group from Syunik. While there we were hosted by Lianna Hakobyan, director of the Music College, who put us up in her apartment and provided us with wonderful hospitality. To read more →CLICK HERE← HOSTING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS by Jack Medzorian - Program Director In May 2005, CYSCA completed the US Department of State (USDOS) - sponsored Community Connections (CC) program, which began in 1997. Over nine years, CYSCA hosted 130 professionals and completed 21 follow-on projects in Armenn 21 follow-on projects in Armenia thanks to $1,000,000 of funding support from the USDOS and generous volunteer time and resources. <>Under the CC program, CYSCA developed and hosted training programs, internships and workshops involving hands-on training for 13 groups of 10 professionals each. Included were groups of entrepreneurs, environmental specialists, tourism specialists, cultural and historical preservation specialists, public health professionals, educators and educational administrators To read more →CLICK HERE← CYSCA DONATES EQUIPMENT TO YSU Scientific Instrument Enables Successful Project Community Connections (CC), hosted by CYSCA, recently arranged a visit to the Massachusetts State Water Quality Laboratory in Lawrence, MA for Environmental specialists from Armenia. The visit was facilitated with the help of Robert Serabian, Quality Control Manager of the lab. During the visit, Robert suggested the possible donation of their used spectrophotometer to Armenia for use in water quality analysis, since their lab was purchasing a new one. CYSCA wrote to the Commonwealth of MA requesting donation of this unit to Armenia and eventually it was approved. To read more →CLICK HERE← CYSCA CONNECTS PERKINS TO ARMENIA Perkins School Initiates Program for Armenia In November/December 2003, CYSCA hosted a group of 11ublic health specialists from Gyumri under its U. S. Department of State funded Community Connections program. Included in his group were directors of two schools for handicapped children in Gyumri. CYSCA arranged a visit for these school directors to Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, where they were given the chance to tour the facility and learn about programs for the handicapped. To read more →CLICK HERE← ASAP CYSCA ASAP TWELVE YEARS OLD The CYSCA Armenia School Aid Project (CYSCA-ASAP) is now 12 years old and still going strong. Recognizing the urgent need for supplementing the meager budgets of schools in Armenia, CYSCA director Eva Medzorian founded the school aid project in 1994. Since its inception ASAP has provided critically needed financial and material aid to over 100 schools in Yerevan and the regions from sponsors and donors, all personally delivered by Eva and/or Jack Medzorian. Funds have typically been used to upgrade bathrooms, repair leaking roofs, repair/replace old/ broken desks and chairs, replace broken windows, purchase computers, school supplies, etc. This project has succeeded because of the concept of directly linking a sponsor to a school, monitoring, documenting and verifying the use of the aid, and reporting back to the sponsors. The significance of the CYSCA ASAP project is even greater, considering that it set an example for the Knights and Daughters of Vartan, (K of V), a national fraternal organization, which followed CYSCA’s initiative by adopting a parallel Armenia school assistance program in 1995 This has become the flagship Armenia aid program of the K of V. CYSCA thanks all of the sponsors for their generous support of this valuable program. Anyone interested in sponsoring a school should contact Eva Medzorian at emedzorian@aol.com for details. CYSCA RENOVATES SCHOOLS IN BERD The CYSCA Armenia School Aid Project (ASAP) successfully completed renovation of School #3 in Berd, Armenia, a remote town four hours northeast of Yerevan bordering Azerbaijan. This project was made possible by the initiative of CYSCA supporter, Edward Shooshanian, who raised $35,000 from 100 of his personal outreach of friends and business associates to help rebuild this school of 500 students and 50 teachers..... To read more →CLICK HERE← Youth Programs BEATING WOOL FOR YERMUGS AND OTHER ADVENTURES Summer 2005 Youth Trip to Yerevan In July we took seven wonderful high school students on our annual education trip to Yerevan, where they were hosted by English speaking students and their families. Highlights of the trip were a visit to a Yerevan teacher's home village near Yeghegnadzor where the students helped with the family's farm work; a visit to an orphanage near Yerevan; workshops on anti-smoking and on imagining an ideal country, sightseeing, and many other shared activities from soccer to music and dancing. For more information, →CLICK HERE← LINKING CLASSROOMS IN CAMBRIDGE AND YEREVAN The Energy Project -- Spring 2005 In the winter of 2004-05, the 45 students in the two eighth grade science classes at the Tobin School in Cambridge studied how to save energy, taught by Science teacher Tad Sudnick, and r Tad Sudnick, and taught by Science teacher Tad Sudnick, and mock 33 students of the Vardanantz Aspetner (Knights and Daughters of Vartan) School #106 in Yerevan formed an after-school group to study in parallel with them, emailing each other about their progress. For more information, →CLICK HERE← NILE RIVER BASIN DIALOGUE Since February, student after-school clubs at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School and School #190 in Yerevan have been taking on a topic that is far afield from their own daily concerns, and far from their own national boundaries,, but is of global significance. They are researching and taking on the roles of the ten African countries that depend on the water of the Nile Basin. Through email they will enter into a mock negotiation to agree on how to share access to the water. For more information, →CLICK HERE←
HOME \| ABOUT US \| COMMUNITYCONNECTIONS \| A.S.A.P. \| SECONDARY SCHOOLPARTNERSHIP \| YCSCA \| RESOURCES \| VOLUNTEER \| BECOME A MEMBER \| LINKS \| COMMENTS Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association Inc. P.O.Box 382591 Cambridge,MA 02238 CYSCA is a 501(3) tax exempt organization. Alldonations are tax deductable. Web Page by RichardAntreasian 2002