The Empower Partnerships for Inclusive Communities Program

Office Manager of the Novi Sad School of Journalism Jelena Jovović and the president of the Center Living Upright visited the United States of America as a part of the Empower Partnerships for Inclusive Communities Program, administered by Mobility International USA (MIUSA) and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The Novi Sad School of Journalism and Center Living Upright are partnered with the Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies from Towson University, USA.

The program started in Eugene, Oregon where the organizers informed the participants about current status and problems of persons with disabilities in the United States. After that, representatives of the Novi Sad School of Journalism stayed 10 days in Towson getting acquainted with the program of media studies at this university, the manner of reporting on persons with disabilities in the USA, as well as with the work of Hasman center for adults with autism. They visited a number of organizations that bring together people with disabilities and/ or provide services to people with disabilities in order to learn about the ways in which these organizations use social media in their day to day work, particularly for the advocacy.

The Empower Partnerships program gathers 19 U.S.-based organizations and institutions and 38 organizations from 19 different countries aiming to expand the capacity of participating organizations to promote inclusive communities and advance disability rights around the world.

All the participants gathered in State Department for education and culture, in Washington, D.C. where they took part in closing conference where all the participant countries had the chance to present their partnership goals and plans for the future cooperation.