Exchange is for Everybody
Connecting Kalamazoo to people from all over the globe for cultural and professional connection - exploring our shared humanity.
Whether we measure the impact in better systems, improved services, changed minds, opened hearts, shared food and drink around tables filled with laughter, or lifelong relationships, itโs been a resounding success for the foreign and local exchange participants who have been a part of Global Ties Kalamazoo (formerly Colleagues International) since 1971.
Mid-pandemic, in 2021, we changed our name to Global Ties Kalamazoo. Weโre looking forward to new ways of making global connection possible for everyone in Kalamazoo, asking ourselves what authentic, meaningful, engaging, multilateral and equitable exchange can be, and we invite you to join us!
Global and Hyper Local
The Global and Hyper Local podcast focuses on the ways that connecting Kalamazoo with the world can enrich the lives of local people and guests from all over. We believe that exchange is for everybody. We do not attempt to solve the world's problems - rather, we explore how profound an impact getting to know each other across difference and geography can have.
Global Ties Kalamazoo: The Power of Exchange in a Big Little City by Zinta Aistars
From the article: โThe home hospitality was the best day of the non-educational part of the whole IVLP program,โ Jankowska says. โThough it may sound funny for Americans, it was great to be able to visit an American home and talk to real Americans โ and even peek into Leeanneโs fridge! We had an opportunity to try American food, see what our host reads, and talk about everyday life. This is something I have always wanted to see, to experience, and it will be my best memory from the whole trip.โ
Get Involved
Bring leaders to your workplace for professional exchange, host visitors in your home, share dinner or your favorite things about Kalamazoo with a group, or join us as a paid intern. Help make our community stronger while making your own world more connected, one relationship at a time. Take our hosting survey and see opportunities here.
Our blog
Keep up with the latest on our programs, conversations with international and local partners, and find ways to get involved in real life. We resumed in-person programming in late March 2022 and the future is hybrid.
โLeveraging citizen diplomacy, thatโs what we do.โ
As part of celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2021, we began a series of interviews with volunteers, hosts, and visitors who have spent time with us in Kalamazoo. Former board president and longtime volunteer, Judy Huth, shared this wonderful story that really gets to the heart of what we do.