2017

The AC21CS project, now with Sarah Borenstein in the role of project sponsor, had the following main objectives for 2017:

• Increase economic development by providing an ecosystem of learning opportunities at American Spaces, as well as schools, museums, libraries, and other education-centered institutions;
• Bolster the American Spaces network by building multidisciplinary teams representing the functions of EducationUSA, libraries, cultural spaces, academic departments, and alumni networks that mentor each other;
• Broaden the scope of the project to include American Spaces in other regions that harness the power of shared networks in cultivating an open community and strengthening civil society;
• Develop sustainability strategies by applying effective management principles as learned in American Spaces training;
• Increase the production of intellectual capital that fosters shared economic prosperity between the U.S. and Brazil, a new teaching method that accelerates the acquisition of knowledge.

CTJ successfully accomplished the main milestones for the first semester of 2017 (established by CTJ during the IRO transition phase):

Milestone 1- Welcome New Participants to Phase 3 Webinar

• Introduce Frank and Sami;
• Present milestones that have been met;
• Assess lessons learned;
• Share new site with program ideas;
• Inspire network by making CTJ program plans available;
• Frank - reassessing grant proposal.

Milestone 2 - BNCs were asked to send a letter of intention for phase 3. To be part of the project, willing BNCs were advised to:

• Organize an implementation team;
• Choose format of programs to host (small programs at Resource Centers, programs for teachers, programs for entrepreneurs, etc);
• Choose themes to work with (entrepreneurship, innovation, education, health, STEAM, etc);
• Send a list of ideas on how the AC21CS project might help implement the programs: meet-ups, visits, consultation calls, webinars;
• Organize infield training - designing a space and/or program plan;
• Codesign webinars;
• Make use of Frank’s infield consultations - access, alumni, project management, faculty development;
• Use the New American Spaces Standards for guidance and assessment;
• Send complete metrics and media reports.

Milestone 3 - CTJ Implementation team must deliver a webinar to engage BNCs, go on in-field training trips, hold consultation calls to design program plans, and deliver a series of webinars to:

• Share narratives;
• Share new project site;
• Ask BNCs to announce a plan and share a narrative they will deliver;
• Give some guidance on how to put a program together;
• Announce travel plan;
• Talk about differentials;
• Share info on how to monetize - windows of opportunities;
• Offer consultation calls to design the second program of the semester;
• Set examples of financial support funds.

Milestone 4 - Promote close collaboration

• Migrate all the content to a new site;
• Send out a webinar follow up email;
• Webinar recording;
• Distribution list;
• Interactive map with partner BNCs highlights;

In August, 2017, Sarah Boreintein and her recently hired staff sat down to design goals for the second semester. However, before we moved forward, the project had to be reevaluated. The mission goals were revisited so that they would be more aligned with the new guidance coming from Washington during Trump's administration. BNCs were advised by the post to focus on the following mission goals:

STEAM - U.S. universities might recruit more heavily students in Brasilia who have learned English at CTJ to attend their universities because they have a competitive edge that adds prestige to the universities.

Developing workforce - US technology companies operate in Brazil. Encouraging STEM, particularly among English learners, is one way to potentially grow the skilled workforce those companies need to prosper.

Entrepreneurship - Creating a 21^st century workforce with modern technical skills is good for stability and trade between the US and Brazil. Anytime we encourage young people through programs, we are instilling a sense of leadership and opportunity in those who may be future leaders

Expanding Education - Hosting programs that show how America promotes educational opportunities in Brazil might lead to appreciation and respect. BNCs should partner with private and public schools to understand the new demands of the Brazilian educational regulations and get ready to train teachers and students

Despite CTJ’s efforts, Binational Centers felt insecure and “raw” to implement the programs. We noticed that the program plans, in general, were activities for young language learners and, therefore, lacked clear mission goals.

Based on this evidence, the implementing team decided to:

• Focus, during the second semester, on training sessions and make simple and easy to implement programs available;
• Promote more interaction among the group via webinars to discuss possibilities and projects that they could implement;
• Highlight the good practices of the BNCs who were already delivering successful and mission-oriented programs.

Another aspect that we started considering was joint projects.

As a result of our conversations, Sarah sent a letter to BNCs sharing what the Embassy's expectations were and what their roles were (multipliers of innovative and engaging practices). In the letter, Sarah asked BNCs to look for inspiration in the project's site, but she also requested that BNCs add their contributions to strengthen the network.

Some BNCs leveraged their potential building internal expertise and enhanced their library programs. See below a list of some of the spaces equipped to run strategic programs:

• Inter Americano CCBEUC opened an innovation hub in their library in 2015;
• Maker Space Londrina opened an innovation hub in their library in 2014;
• CCBEU Franca revamped their library in 2014;
• ACBEU Ribeirão Preto inaugurated a new library space in 2016;
• IBEUV Vila Velha opened their hub integrated with the library in 2016;
• Maker Space ICBEU SJC inaugurated their hub in 2016;
• Belém opened their space in September 2017;
• Associação Alumni inaugurated their revamped their library by integrating a makerspace in 2015.

Biggest Challenges

The implementation established a collaborative network to provide BNCs with program plans that were specially designed to boost engagement and address strategic mission goals. However, only in August 2017 did the specialist meet with Sarah Borenstein to collaboratively elaborate the strategic plan for the period from July 2017 to July 2018. Luckily, CTJ was mature in its understanding of the project, the Makerspace was fully operational, 28 BNCs were on board, and new milestones were established.