- Open Hands Initiative
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Open Hands Initiative 
Type Non-profit Founded New York, NY (2009) Location Headquarters in New York, NY Key people Jay T. Snyder Method Complimenting traditional diplomacy Motto "Dedicated to improving people-to-people understanding by emphasizing our basic shared values and common humanity" Website http://www.openhandsinitiative.org Open Hands Initiative is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2009 by Jay T. Snyder. Open Hands is dedicated to "improving people-to-people understanding and international friendship through exchanges and other projects that focus on our basic shared values and common humanity."[1] Mr. Snyder established the organization after hearing President Barack Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo, which talked of America's willingness to extend an open hand to the Muslim world.[2]
Contents
Programs
Open Hands Initiative is based in the United States. It launched its first program in Damascus, Syria in August 2010. Forthcoming program locations include Pakistan and Indonesia. Program areas are focused around grassroots-level exchanges in the fields of health, disability and accessibility, and arts and culture.
The first program focused on exchanges in music and disability. Open Hands brought a group of disability youth advocates from the United States to Syria to meet with their Syrian counterparts to form the first ever Youth Ability Summit.[3] The Summit served as a venue to discuss the inclusion and rights of people with disabilities, as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Summit also served as a venue to begin the creation of the world's first comic book series featuring a disabled superhero with American and Syrian values.[4]
Advisory Board
- Jay T. Snyder, Founder and Chairman
- Tina Brown
- Mike Holtzman
- Martin S. Indyk
- Ambassador Mitchell B. Reiss
- Ambassador Patrick Theros
References
External links
Categories:- Cultural exchange
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
