DeWitt-Wallace Youth Travel Enrichment Fund
Established by the founder of Reader's Digest Association, this fund is given to U.S. exchange organizations to assist in sponsoring young adults from diverse backgrounds to have an opportunity to go overseas.
Since 1995, Mobility International USA (MIUSA) has received the generous support of the DeWitt Wallace/Youth Travel Enrichment Fund to provide an educational travel opportunity to young adults with disabilities from diverse communities. Thus far, these 2-3 week programs have taken place in Mexico, Japan, Costa Rica and England.
In order to prepare for travel on an international exchange program, MIUSA provides participants with extensive orientation materials prior to departure. Orientation materials include information on the culture and geography of the host country, accessibility, culture shock and re-entry responses, health and safety precautions, fundraising and goal setting questions. During the program, participants take part in workshops on disability rights and leadership, explore new cultures and experience family customs, food and traditions with members of the local community.
A priority in recruitment for all MIUSA programs is identifying potential applicants with disabilities who are also members of cultural minority backgrounds, represent diverse geographic locations and come from economically underserved populations. Equally important is ensuring that participants represent different disability groups. The cross-disability delegations assembled for each of MIUSA's programs include people who have a physical, psychiatric, learning and/or other hidden disability and those who have a visual impairment or are deaf or hard of hearing. On MIUSA programs participants strive to learn not only about other cultures and languages but also to understand the accessibility needs and life experiences of people with various disabilities.
Follow-up to an international program is a significant component of the overall goal of documenting the impact of international exchange on the personal and professional growth of participants. MIUSA alumni are encouraged to recruit and mentor applicants to future programs and publish articles for national magazines and the MIUSA website. Many have represented MIUSA at regional and national conferences throughout the US and abroad.
One of MIUSA's goals is to assist other DeWitt Wallace funded organizations to increase the diversity of their international programs, by making them more inclusive of people with disabilities.
