A cohort of eight professionals from Southeast Asia, considered to be emerging stars, have spent the last month getting a taste of American life and Cleveland government.
They’re part of an organization called the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Professional Fellows Program, which is designed to provide professionally relevant experience in the United States to “emerging leaders” from Southeast Asia. Both the organization and the exchange program are funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
“Cleveland is really a good city, and I feel really welcome, and it's a great hospitality that I receive from the people of Cleveland,” said Muslim Dokho from Thailand.
Cleveland hosted eight of the 28 YSEALI fellows. Other host cities include Madison, WI, Glendale, CA, Boston, MA, Lincoln NE, Baton Rouge, LA, Decatur, GA – each city with a different professional focus. In Cleveland, the focus was governance and society.
“We felt very welcome and really hope that we can go back in the future,” said Pandu Putra from Indonesia.
Global Cleveland, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting international communities, selected the eight YSEALI members and placed them in different government offices around the city.
“Their time sort of culminated with a meeting with [County] Executive Chris Ronane and Mayor Justin Bibb,” said Kate Deegan from Global Cleveland. “They're talking about what makes Cleveland great and the mayor's asking what could be better. What could we improve? What can I learn from you? And I think that that honestly is the crux of the program.”
That exchange goes both ways. Putra is a digital government professional and spent his time working in Cleveland's Urban Analytics and Innovation Office.
“It’s really interesting to see how the government works and how innovation and data works here. So, a lot of things that I could compare and then perhaps take some back home,” Putra said.
Sopheaknetra Ieng from Cambodia worked for the community relations board at Cleveland City Hall.
“It's like a function that does not exist yet in my home country. So, I hope to bring this kind of stuff that has to deal with building the community, sense of belonging among the people and to work as a connector from the government to people,” Ieng said. “I hope in the future we can have more collaboration between Cambodia and Cleveland.”
Dokho, a public policy professional, worked in the office of Cuyahoga County Chief of Staff Joseph Nanni.
“He coached me a lot about how to deal with many stakeholders and with the people, how to manage people and resources,” Dokho said.
Janine Antonio works for the National Police Commission in the Philippines. She spent her time with Cleveland Division of Police.
“Philippines is quite new to using body-worn cameras,” Antonio said. “My project that I will bring back to the Philippines is the training of use of body-warn cameras and crisis intervention unit – bringing back a custom of policies and manuals to work on our current development.”
Cleveland has been a host city for the program for eight years.
“It's exposure. It's something that I know by working at Global Cleveland that Cleveland is a global city,” Deegan said. “This is a way where we can really walk the walk. We have an opportunity to invite people in to show off what we can.”
Some play did get mixed in the work. The fellows caught a Cavs game, walked in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, watched the Cleveland Orchestra perform at Severance Hall, shopped in AsiaTown and the West Side Market, celebrated Eid al-Fitr at the Chagrin Valley Islamic Center and got private tours of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Public Square and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
But there was one thing in Cleveland some of the delegates did not love.
“I love everything here in Cleveland except for the weather. It's quite unpredictable. It became a hobby every morning to check the weather,” Antonio said. “People here are very welcoming, very warm, very accommodating, very diverse. Cleveland, just makes me feel so home.”
