August 30, 2010
Download the Summer 2010 edition of Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association
Download the PDF →CLICK HERE←May 27, 2010
Dr. Marina Nalbandyan, environmental scientist from Armenia delivered a paper on water quality at the annual conference of the U. S. Society of Civil Engineers in Providence during May 2010 attended by 500 participants. Marina's paper was one of 3 papers selected for presentation at the conference out of 700 applicants.
To read more →CLICK HERE←
March 21, 2010
A panel discussion featuring the president of a hydrogen fuel cell company from Armenia and two local counterparts will be held on April 29, 2010 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Community Room in the Cambridge Public Library, Main Branch, 449 Broadway,Cambridge.
To read more →CLICK HERE←March 18, 2010
The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) announces publication of a booklet "How to Write a Sound Business Plan" authored by, Mkrdich (Misha) Tadevosyan, Head of Development, Analysis and Risk Management of the Anelik Bank, Yerevan, Armenia
To read more →CLICK HERE←Feb 1, 2010
CYSCA received a Certificate of Appreciation dated from the US AID (Agency for International Development)
October 27, 2009 1:16:50 PM EDT
Cambridge, MA: The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association, Inc. (CYSCA), announces the release of a second edition of a business guide titled, "Easy Use Guidelines for Armenian Entrepreneurs". This guidebook is written in simple everyday Armenian and English for use by entrepreneurs in Armenia to guide them through the steps to establish, finance and run a business in Armenia.
Cambridge, MA, February 23, 2009: The Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association, Inc. (CYSCA) announces receipt of a grant for the training of 10 social workers from the 11 regions of Armenia. The grant is sponsored and funded by the USAID under its Community Connections program. The professionals from Armenia will arrive in the Boston area June 3, 2009 for an intensive three-week training program developed by CYSCA aimed at the professional development of social worker skills, especially in practical applications of their work.
To read more →CLICK HERE←The 17th Community Connections training program of the Cambridge
Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) concluded with a farewell
reception for ten tourism educators from Yerevan, Armenia, held Oct 2,
2008 at the Middlesex Community College (MCC) "Meeting House" in
Billerica. The educators received a three-week world-class
quality training program under a partnership between CYSCA and MCC of
Bedford and Lowell, MA.
To read more
→CLICK HERE←
Cambridge, Mass. - On Thursday, June 19, a group of theater
professionals visiting from Armenia had the opportunity to visit the
newest theater in the city of Cambridge and to talk at length with the
two artistic directors, who will manage and supervise the productions
once the facility opens in late July with its first performance.
To read more
→CLICK HERE←
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (A.W.) — On June 16, Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons presented in goodwill a welcome proclamation and .....
To read more →CLICK HERE←CAMBRIDGE-YEREVAN SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION TO TRAIN TOURISM EDUCATORS FROM ARMENIA
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←
CAMBRIDGE-YEREVAN SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION TO TRAIN THEATER MANAGERS FROM ARMENIA IN JUNE
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←
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.
May 12 2010
Community Connections alumnus Armen Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema, initiated a comprehensive survey on theater management practices in several theaters across Armenia in 2009. As a result of numerous meetings, interviews and research he compiled a comprehensive report with support from the Ministry of Culture. The document will be published and used as a guide for specialists in the field of theater management.
To read more →CLICK HERE←December 2009
Follow-up activities for the summer 2009 Social Worker exchange and 2008 Theater Managers exchange have been glowingly praised in updates from USAID Armenia. To read about the Theater Managers (pdf file)
CLICK HERE
To read about the Social Workers (pdf file)
CLICK HERE.
Social Work is a very new profession in Armenia. Prior to the separation of Armenia from the Soviet Union in 1991, professional social work education and training did not exist. Dr. Nancy Humphries, former Dean of Social Work at the University of Connecticut and Past President of National NASW was responsible for this amazing development.
To read more →CLICK HERE←Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA) concluded another successful training project, this one being for social work professionals from Armenia. This was a USAID funded project called Community Connections administered by World Learning, Inc. and developed and hosted by CYSCA. Ten social work professionals from Armenia spent three weeks in the Greater Boston area immersing themselves in the American system of social work.
To read more →CLICK HERE←
Alvard Grigoryan, a lecturer at Yerevan State Pedagogical University, is using her position to support volunteerism in Armenia. Grigoryan, who spent three weeks in Cambridge, MA as part of the Community Connections program, saw first hand the roles volunteers play in supporting American civic and cultural life
To read more →CLICK HERE←
It was really a revelation: Boston and the adjacent cities. Ten tourism educators from Armenia came to learn about education in America. For most of us it was the first visit to the USA. and indeed to discover America.
To read more →CLICK HERE←
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.
To read more →CLICK HERE←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....
To read more →CLICK HERE←by 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 ...
To read more
→CLICK HERE←
REUNION IN KAPAN
CC Syunik
alumni update
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 ...To read more
→CLICK HERE←
CYSCA DONATES EQUIPMENT TO YSU
Scientific Instrument Enables Successful Project
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 11 public health
specialists from Gyumri under its U. S. Department of State funded
Community Connections program....
To read more
→CLICK HERE←
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 ....
To read more→CLICK HERE←
LINKING CLASSROOMS IN CAMBRIDGE AND YEREVAN
The Energy Project -- Spring 2005
To read more →CLICK HERE←
NILE RIVER BASIN DIALOGUE
To read more, →CLICK HERE←
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