Center for Citizen Initiatives

The Center for Citizen Initiatives (or CCI) is the brainchild of Sharon Tennison, who founded the nonprofit organization under a different name (the Center for U.S.-U.S.S.R. Initiatives) in 1983.

Origins

CCI's original mission was to foster cultural exchanges between citizens of the United States and the former Soviet Union. In 1989, CCI began to implement programs designed to provide economic assistance and business training to Soviet citizens.

These efforts continued after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were eventually encapsulated in CCI's spearhead program, the " [http://www.ccisf.org/pep/mission.htm Productivity Enhancement Program] " (or PEP). Under PEP, delegations of Russian entrepreneurs pay to visit U.S. communities (see Funding "Reinvention" section below), where they live with American families and attend training seminars offered pro bono by local businesses. Ms. Tennison refers to her company as "perhaps the most important 'open door'" between Russia and America today." [http://www.ccisf.org/home/president_report.htm]

The flagship Productivity Enhancement Program was phased out in November 2007, although the center still runs many other programs. The center celebrates its 25th anniversary in September 2008.

Funding

Initially, CCI received its funding from private individuals and various foundations. From 1993 until mid-2005, the U.S. Federal Government funded the majority of CCI's activities ( [http://www.ccisf.org/about/government.htm CCI summarizes its state funding on its website] .) Russian delegates themselves now pay the lion-share of the program's expenses.

Since the end of subsidization, the target entrepreneur clientele has shifted from small and medium-sized businesses to large and already-successful companies.

Russia: Other Points of View

Announced in Sharon Tennison's June 9, 2008 " [http://www.ccisf.org/presidents_report/index.php President's Report] ", CCI opened a blog at http://www.russiaotherpointsofview.com. The blog hosts the work of a companion organization called "Russia Media Watch," but also appears to speak for the Center itself. Entries date back to June 2007.

Despite a warning that "Other Points of View" is only "loosely affiliated with the Center for Citizen Initiatives" in the " [http://www.ccisf.org/presidents_report/index.php About Us] " section of the site, President Tennison's June Report officially refers to russiaotherpointsofview.com as "CCI's new blog."

According to the website, the blog is maintained by three individuals (two CCI staff-members, Sharon Tennison and Masha Maslova, and one Russia Media Watch expert, Gordon Hahn, PhD). The contributors page reports that the blog is additionally assisted by two experts, Patrick Armstrong and Nicolai Petro.

The "Other Points of View" blog is extremely supportive of Russian state policy and Russian mass media and harshly critical of the American equivalent. Following the 2008 South Ossetia war, "Other Points of View" posted articles, for example, endorsing the 1,692 casualties figure offered by South Ossetian state officials [http://www.russiaotherpointsofview.com/2008/08/latest-casualty.html] and criticizing NATO for applying a double-standard to Kosovo and South Ossetia [http://www.russiaotherpointsofview.com/2008/08/russian-feder-1.html] .

The blog permanently displays the following message to the right of every post:

"Welcome to 'Other Points of View' on Russia. We believe there is need in the public forum for a venue which offers opinions and facts that at times may differ from the prevailing view in western media."

People

[http://www.ccisf.org/about/staff.htm San Francisco Office PEP Staff]

External links

* [http://www.ccisf.org Official website]

* [http://www.ccisf.org/home/president_report.htm Official 'President's Reports' by Sharon Tennison]

* [http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2022080.html Sharon Tennison claims that the Peace Corps was "going well beyond their scope of activity" in justification of Putin's decision to expel the organization.]