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"This past weekend, I got to learn more about the work happening in New Orleans for food justice, as well as link up with Kandace Vallejo, Erica Dodt, and Dylan Cook from the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA)...It was great to make these new friends and build allies for ENGAGE and Thailand’s Alternative Agriculture Network. Together, we organized a Food Justice workshop and brainstormed ways for ENGAGE members to get more involved with fair food around the country.” - Bennett Haynes, currently based in Thailand as an Intern with the Alternative Agriculture Network, and author of the Surin Farmers Support blog.
"Sitting outside on the porch, listening to the exchange of music being played, ENGAGErs gathered on the steps nearby enjoying the sense of community that was and continues to be built. I came into this convergence as a new member of this community...I look forward to bridging my study abroad experience in Mexico, which shares similar values and commitment to social justice with my new intern position in Thailand." - Sarah Priyanka Gerdes, former student on CGE Mexico Program, CIEE-Thailand Intern '09-'10
ENGAGE also invites guest speakers every year that help us deepen our analysis and build new relationships. This year two "bees" from the Beehive Design Collective presented their latest graphics campaign, “The True Cost of Coal,” about the devastation of mountaintop removal in Appalachia. ENGAGE mentor Kovit Boonjear, from Thailand also presented, reflecting on his time in the United States so far and on how we can strengthen ENGAGE’s work.
The week after the main convergence was packed full, too. For the first time, ENGAGE organized a full day anti-oppression training for ENGAGErs. And as in past years, post-convergence was the time for several days of intensive training and pass-on for incoming and outgoing interns on the CIEE-Thailand program, and internal meetings for staff and Board members.
"At one decade, we're at a turning point for ENGAGE. We asked important questions about our fundamental philosophy, our vision, and talked about network-wide strategy. I think this meeting represented a milestone in the direction the network is headed. I am excited to see where we can take the ENGAGE network in the coming year." - Vanessa Moll, returned intern from ciee-Thailand ('07 to '09)
Some exciting things to look forward to this coming year include:
* A new steering committee/regional organizing structure to support the community organizing efforts of ENGAGE members - what is now being referred to as “building bases”
* A monthly newsletter, enabling ENGAGErs to learn about each other's work, stay connected, and have an open forum for publishing articles
* A more interactive ENGAGE website and new blog
* The creation of a formal ENGAGE sponsored summer internship program for returning study abroad students starting Summer 2010
* A resource guide put together by ENGAGE interns in Washington, DC, including information on organizations in every region of the United States to help facilitate a process of plugging returned study abroad students (or other interested ENGAGE members) into initiatives within the ENGAGE network. DC ENGAGE interns will also be building a contact list of older ENGAGE members who can potentially act as mentors for new network members
* US Human Rights Project: ENGAGErs are traveling to Kentucky to work with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) and community members, compiling profiles that document human rights violations as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining
* ENGAGErs in New Orleans will be developing educational trips based on the CIEE alternative education model
Our Hosts
The 2009 Convergence was hosted for the second year in beautiful upstate South Carolina by SEEC, Spartanburg Educators for Empowered Communities. SEEC organizes area students and faculty around issues of environmental sustainability and economic and social justice. They create local models of community-based education, working collectively to develop engaged citizens and to build grassroots movements for positive change. SEEC was co-founded by long-time ENGAGE member Allyn Steele, inspired by the educational process he experienced while studying abroad in Thailand. For more information, email SEEC.
The Convergence Vision
ENGAGE was dreamed up a decade ago by students, teachers, and community mentors working together on the ciee Thailand study abroad program. In the past ten years, we’ve come a long away. We’ve had offices in Maine, San Francisco, and now in Washington, DC. We’ve wrestled with what kind of “non-profit” we want to be, what kind of organizing network we want to be. And our small internal planning meetings have steadily grown and evovled into what we launched as the annual Global Convergence in 2007.
The larger vision for the Convergence is not only to provide a space for ENGAGE members to meet, and not just to be a reunion of students from one or two alternative study abroad programs. We want to create a space to spark new relationships and projects, a space that includes all those involved in processes of transformative experiential education. All those who are working to bring people together across cultures, race, and class to build social and ecological justice: staff and alumni of various programs both based in the US and abroad, student/youth activists, popular educators, and community organizers and mentors.
We are a decentralized network living across the United States (and often found living, learning, working, and traveling in other countries too). We are linked by our passion for grassroots, community-based education for social change. Those of us who have been around ENGAGE for a while dearly value the friendships that maintain this network. We are energized and grounded by the chance to be together, in one place, at least once a year.
Notes and Comments Archive
You can read notes from past Convergences/Annual Meetings on this page.
Photos Archive
Check out our flickr page for Convergence photos from the past few years!
