"Dinner Diplomacy" Debuts at Thrive DTSP!

Funded by a competitive grant from Global Ties U.S. and Marriott International
For nearly 25 years, World Partnerships has pursued novel and innovative ways to engage IVLP participants with our Tampa Bay community. This year, thanks to a competitive “Dinner Diplomacy” grant from Global Ties U.S. (our national membership association) and Marriott International, World Partnerships was able to add a new concept of hospitality and open it to a whole new audience – the co-working community of Thrive DTSP, where we relocated our office at the end of 2023.
Thrive DTSP has over 90 companies on site – tech training, start-ups, environmental NGOs, media, artists, a district Congressional office, and everyone in between! Our new office has colorful communal space, outstanding meeting space, and a great location in downtown St. Pete, with views of the skyline and the tree canopy in Williams Park! It is a welcoming community that our IVLP groups have “thrived” in, calling it “warm”, “cool” and “a great vibe”. The Thrive community informally engages with our participants throughout their visits; one community member found out a delegation from her country was meeting in-house, introduced herself and her company, and she is currently exploring a collaboration with one of the visitors!​
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India IVLP particpants arrive at Thrive for their reception in mid-July. Photo by Ms. Kavitha Herle
IVLP programs include professional meetings and cultural activities. It’s a great exchange – Participants experience how Americans live, work, learn and play, while Americans “travel the world without leaving home” and meeting a new generation of global leaders. Often, this includes some type of hospitality – simply, American hosts breaking bread with IVLP groups. Over time, World Partnerships has adapted this into “community hospitality” gatherings – whether at a baseball game or a museum, over coffee, around a pot-luck dinner, at the beach, or at a backyard BBQ. Our visitors and local hosts have discovered these are great settings in which cultural values are communicated and exchanged, and where long-lasting friendships and professional connections are formed.
The Global Ties U.S./Marriott International grant gave us an opportunity to once again innovate in the hospitality arena. In July and August 2024, IVLP participants from India and from Kazakhstan enjoyed food and fellowship when World Partnerships hosted them in two receptions at Thrive with invited guests and community members. One of our participants from India spoke about his group’s objectives in their IVLP visit, what they had learned around Tampa Bay, and answered questions about the topic of climate change reporting by social media influencers. On a separate occasion, our group from Kazakhstan treated the community with a popular love song from their country. 
With the support of the Global Ties U.S./Marriott International grant, World Partnerships was able to introduce itself to a new audience and our IVLP visitors to Americans from all walks of life, as well as to establish a new collaboration with the diverse Thrive community. ​Thrive management embraced the opportunity to feature our organization, our mission, and our IVLP guests – and helped make a pitch to the community to volunteer as hospitality hosts. It has set the stage for a larger collaboration with a women in tech networking association for an upcoming IVLP project in early November. Stay tuned for more!