The essence of NCGE’s mission is to support the development of a globally competent, civically engaged, and professionally accomplished cadre of world-class leaders who reflect the diversity that makes America great. Our work is guided by the fundamental beliefs that:

1. Our nation is missing an incredible opportunity to fully develop the talent that will guide us through an era of rapid globalization when only 1% of all American students choose to study abroad and of that figure only 9% are African American, Hispanic American, or Native American.

2. There exist a great number of high potential young people of color at every level of education who, because of their economic realities, miss critical opportunities for international exposure and professional development that will help prepare them to thrive in a global society.

3. A diverse, globally competent workforce is crucial to attaining world peace, safeguarding national security, and ensuring continued American economic prosperity.

4. We must do everything possible to increase access to study abroad opportunities while simultaneously making “global competitiveness” and “intercultural competence” part and parcel of the debate about educational equity and reform in this county.

Study abroad and international exchange has long been recognized as an integral method for grooming future leaders in politics, business, academia, and civil society. This rite of passage, however, has largely been attainable only by children and families of privilege. Additional barriers including the high cost of international exchange programs and a fear of the unknown have allowed this tradition to persist. We now stand at a pivotal moment in history when all of this can and should change.

A comprehensive solution which truly addresses the root causes of this problem must be multi-layered and have a dual focus on impacting individual students AND building capacity in the institutions that educate them. We therefore see a successive, pipeline approach as the most effective means for brokering age-appropriate international opportunity for students from kindergarten to college and beyond. At the K-12 level, we focus our work in the urban public school districts that educate nearly 40% of all American children of color with specific programs tailored to support students, schools and youth-serving community based organizations across the elementary, middle and high school levels. In higher education, we focus on creating paradigm-shifting systems that will increase overall study abroad participation as well as identifying and grooming the most high-performing future global leaders from minority-serving colleges and universities and connecting them with the transformative chance to work and study at the world’s leading institutions for a semester or a year.

By working together with educational institutions, philanthropic and corporate partners, government agencies, and community based organizations we really can equip all students with skills for global leadership, regardless of race or class. We can galvanize the resources to provide scholarships for study abroad and foreign language education while also creating meaningful opportunities for service and professional development. Together, we can ensure that all students are able to contribute, compete, and thrive in significant positions of leadership in every professional sector of society. The societal return on this investment will be nothing short of tremendous: a more prosperous and competitive economy, a more enlightened domestic and global citizenry, as well as a more equitable and ethical distribution of resources and power in decision-making.