U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Officer Catherine Schweitzer joined the community of Khulo to celebrate the grand opening of the Khulo Youth Platform, a project initiated by five young people through the framework of Batumi American Corner’s Community Ambassadors Project. The Khulo team made weekly trips to Batumi for several months to learn about assessing community needs, designing a sustainable program, and writing a proposal. They successfully competed for U.S. Embassy funding for their project and secured significant financial support from Municipality of Khulo to renovate space in the Khulo Cultural Center’s library. Khulo Mayor Vakhtang Beridze and PAO Schweitzer cut the ribbon together.
The Community Ambassadors will now organize a series of programs at the Youth Platform to educate their peers about critical thinking, career development, women’s empowerment, and healthy lifestyles. Youth from more than 20 villages in the mountainous region of Adjara will benefit from the Platform’s programs. The U.S. Embassy is proud to support the youth of Khulo and their efforts to create more non-formal education opportunities in their community. Across Georgia, Community Ambassadors Projects at American Corners have trained more than 180 youth to become stronger community leaders and funded 19 small projects organized by youth in their own communities.