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RUSSIAN LEADERS EXAMINE SPECIAL EDUCATION IN MARYLAND
November 23, 2009
For Immediate Release
Potomac, Maryland—Five Russian leaders participating in the Open World program will spend December 5-12, 2009, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area examining the education of children with special needs. Lauri Zell and Mona Tavss will host the delegation. Sponsored by the independent Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress and administered by the National Peace Foundation, the Open World program is designed to enhance understanding and capabilities for cooperation between the United States and the countries of Eurasia by developing a network of leaders in the region who have gained significant, firsthand exposure to America’s democratic, accountable government and free-market system.
The visiting delegates are Yelena Anosova, a parent-consultant to “Invatur” Nizhny Novgorod Regional NGO of the disabled, and a volunteer inclusive education teacher; Svetlana Ilina, a lawyer who is a legal consultant to ”SPB ARDIS”, a St. Petersburg NGO for Disabled Children and their parents, and is a member of its Board of Trustees; Yelena Semenova, a specialist in abnormal psychology and learning disabilities who currently works as a special education teacher, and is a Gestalt therapy practitioner; Marina Ture, an active member of ”Veras” a Nizhny Novgorod Regional NGO supporting children; and Yelena Niga, the president of a Krasnoyarsk Regional NGO for protecting the rights of disabled children. Alina Levina from Nizhny Novgorod, accompanies them as a facilitator.
While in the metro area, the delegates will visit the offices of Senator Barbara Mikulski, visit the special education divisions of the U.S., Maryland and Montgomery County Departments of Education, tour public and private schools (including The Ivymount School and the Reginald Lourie Center for Infants and Children), and tour Easter Seals, and meet with various specialists in the special education field.
Homestays will allow the Open World delegates to experience American family life and learn more about American culture from the inside out.
Delegates will also take part in a few cultural and community activities, including visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit and photography exhibition at National Geographic Headquarters downtown; attending a potluck dinner in Kensington, Maryland, where another Russian delegation, this one regarding international child trafficking, will transpire; shopping; and sightseeing.
The National Peace Foundation has been a grantee of the Open World Leadership Center since 2001 and has hosted more than 200 delegations on various topics of interest, including Education, Rule of Law, Child Welfare, Social Services, Accountable Governance and others. NPF’s involvement in the program is an outgrowth of its mission to empower citizen peacebuilders worldwide at the grassroots level and connect them with the technical resources and expertise they need to effect change on a local level.
The U.S. Congress established the Open World in 1999 to enhance understanding and capabilities for cooperation between the United States and Russia. In 2003, Congress made all post-Soviet states eligible for the program. Thanks to Open World, some 15,000 current and future Eurasian leaders have experienced American civil society and have been exposed to new ideas and practices that they can adapt for use in their own work. Open World also promotes partnerships and continued communications between delegates and their American hosts and professional counterparts. Open World currently operates exchanges for political and civic leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
For more information on the National Peace Foundation’s Open World Program, contact Jenny Greer, Director of National Peace Foundation’s Open World delegations at 202-783-7030 or visit http://www.nationalpeace.org/openworld.
For more information about the Open World Leadership Center, contact Maura Shelden, Open World Public Affairs Officer, at (202) 707-6197 or visit http://www.openworld.gov.
Mona Tavss
(240) 994-7747
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