(EDITOR’S NOTE: I am on the U.S. Department of State’s list to receive daily press releases and I thought that The Bahamas most definitely should seek to participate in the programs mentioned in this release that I received this morning.)
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 19, 2023 – The Department of State marked the 40th anniversary of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX), the 30th anniversary of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX), and the 20th anniversary of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programs with a reception at the Department of State on October 18.
Nearly 350 CBYX, FLEX, and YES alumni, volunteer host families and schools, program implementers, and other stakeholders, gathered to commemorate and honor the importance and legacy of these three programs. Hailing from almost 60 countries, the nearly 160 program alumni in attendance represented young change makers drawn from diverse professional fields, which included civil servants, doctors, educators, entrepreneurs, journalists, lawyers, NGO founders, researchers, and software developers, among others.
During their visit to Washington, DC, alumni participated in professional development workshops and networking activities. They enjoyed inspirational sessions and engaging discussions with Ambassador Capricia Marshall, 23rd White House Social Secretary and former Chief of Protocol of the United States; Ambassador Maria Yovanovitch, former Ambassador to Ukraine, Armenia, and the Kyrgyz Republic; State Department Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues Abby Finkenauer; Dr. Raj Shah, President of Rockefeller Foundation and former USAID Administrator; General Charles Bolden, 12th Administrator of NASA; Jesus Mantas, Managing Partner of IBM Business Transformation; and many other Department and private sector leaders.
While on the CBYX, FLEX, and YES programs in the United States, participants live with host families, attend high school or college, and become active members of their host communities, bringing the world to American communities and classrooms. These programs empower young people from around the globe, supporting civil society and democratic ideals, and promoting mutual understanding between the United States and other countries.
CBYX was established by the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag in 1983 and is bilaterally funded and administered by both governments; members of the Bundestag have lauded the program as “a cornerstone of U.S.-German relations.”
FLEX was created in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union by former Senator Bill Bradley, who believed that the best way to ensure long-lasting peace was through the exchange of young people. Senators Ted Kennedy and Richard Lugar created YES in October 2002 in response to the events of September 11, 2001. They remained champions of the program throughout the rest of their lives, meeting with students on a regular basis.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I absolutely had to share this U.S. State Department release with readers of my online publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which has a huge following among the Bahamian diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean,
Given the very serious problem that exists in The Bahamas among young men –and an increasing number of young women – who are participating in criminal activities, it is critically important that the government put in place programs to address this very distressing problem. Of course, the root cause of this sad state of affairs is that the family structure in The Bahamas in far too many cases has deteriorated considerably and we now have a plethora of young teenagers with no parental skills who are having babies and grandmothers not much older than 30 who themselves have placed a higher priority on their own sexual gratification than on properly supervising the growth and development of their children.
Granted, it is unlikely that any of these directionless young people would qualify to be participants in the programs mentioned in today’s U.S. State Department release. There appears to be hope on the horizon, however. Prime Minister Philip E. Davis has placed a high priority on the education of young Bahamians in the aftermath of the impact of COVID-19 on the country’s educational system.
As he noted in a recent address in the House of Assembly, “We repaired and re-opened schools for the return of in-person learning, launched a task force to tackle absenteeism, and undertook system-wide testing so we can address learning loss,” further pointing out that the Find Every Child initiative brought thousands of students back to school, providing them with social and learning support.
“In education, we recognized that the years of missed schooling represented an emergency for our children and families,” the Prime Minister said. “We repaired and re-opened schools for the return of in-person learning, launched a task force to tackle absenteeism, and undertook system-wide testing so we can address learning loss.”
He added, “We launched the National Smart Start Programme to provide workforce readiness skills to students left behind during the pandemic, so that they could qualify for jobs in this growing economy. We moved to hire 200 additional teachers to address pre-existing staffing shortages.”
The Department of Social Services and other government entities that interact with young Bahamians should likewise be laser focused on reversing the alarming trend of far too many young Bahamians taking a wrong turn at the crossroads of their youthful lives and embarking on a life of crime.
