Sister Region Exchange Program

The ACK facilitates a Sister Region Program between the towns of the Yatsugatake area and Madison County, Kentucky. Our hope is to build cultural awareness and appreciation with economic development for both regions while fostering hope for youth based on cooperation and service to others through educational exchange.

Adult delegations travel from Japan to Kentucky in May. The junior high student exchange program has a two year cycle. The Japanese visit Kentucky first, and the following summer the American students are hosted by the same Japanese visitors from the previous year. Every fall the adult delegation from Kentucky visits the Yatsugatake region. One member of each adult delegation participates on the Artist Exchange. The artists stays longer than the rest of the delegation and visits local junior high schools to teach about their craft. Dancers, sculptors, watercolor artists, calligraphers and many other types of artists have participated since the artist exchange program began in 1998.

The American delegation includes four artisans and a Berea college student broom maker. They visit the County Fair to take part in the festivities, demonstrate their craft at booths on the fairgrounds, and further foster cultural exchange and the development of a lasting grassroots relationship between Madison County and the Yatsugatake region, as well as between America and Japan as a whole.

Recently, a Kentucky Public Television program documented the Sister Region Exchange Program. Footage highlighted Japanese delegates in Madison County and the American delegation's visit to the Yatsugatake County Fair at KEEP.

 

Brian Kane Fellowships

The Brian Kane Fellowship Program allows interested individuals to travel and work at KEEP, to better facilitate cultural awareness for the residents of the Kiyosato area and Japan, as well as for the Brian Kane Fellow. It is awarded to an individual who will best promote KEEP's ideal of building cross-cultural understanding by service to others through international exchange and educational programming.

Former Brian Kane Fellows have led foreign movie nights, foreign language conversation classes and sessions, helped create websites in English for the ACK, and implemented and assisted with many other programs. The Fellows utilize their own personal skills and interests in order to further expand the awareness of their culture within the KEEP community. In return, the Fellows get to experience Japan in a unique way, and also deepen their own understanding of Japanese culture.

For more information about the Brian Kane Fellowship, or to learn about the application process, please click here.

ACK BKF Internship - The summer 2007 internship position has been filled.  Check back later for more information regarding the internship for summer 2008.  For the summer 2007 position description, please click here.

Tulgao, Philippines

KEEP supports an outreach and development program in the village of Tulgao, in the Philippines. Located in the northern mountains of Luzon Island, the ACK and KEEP are partners with the people of Tulgao, working together to create an exchange of ideas and technology that benefits both sides of the partnership. The ACK works with the Episcopal Diocese of the Northern Philippines (EDNP) to coordinate many aspects of the project.

Guided by the vision of the villagers, KEEP and the ACK have helped to install a water system, support a nurse-midwife, build a church and a multi-purpose building where community meetings are held, build a micro-hydro electric system, establish agricultural models, create a reforestation program, and support scholarships for students from Tulgao and the surrounding area at both the high school and college level. The EDNP is the local administrator for the scholarship program. The scholars study in a wide variety of fields from education to agriculture. Scholarship recipient Andrew Buyagan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 2003 and returned to Tulgao working for the municipality as an Agricultural Technician. He describes his job as a bridge between the Community of Agricultural Scientists and the Community of Farmers.

Partnering with the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA), the ACK and KEEP are proud hosts of young adults serving on the Young Adult Service Corp (YASC) Program. The YASC program is administered by the ECUSA national office's department of Anglican and Global Relations offering one year assignments to 18-30 year olds to work with a local church or church-founded institution or program. Amber York served as an agricultural and environmental worker at KEEP through the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican Church of Japan) from 2004 to 2005. Half of her year was spent at KEEP and the other half was spent working in Tulgao with the EDNP. KEEP looks forward to welcoming another YASC participant in the future.

Paul Rusch Memorial Scholarship at Rikkyo University

The ACK helps to fund the Dr. Paul Rusch Memorial Scholarship at Rikkyo University, located in Ikebukuro Ward, Tokyo, where Dr. Rusch was once a professor (1926-1942). The scholarship and memorial fund helps encourage students in the profession of social service or education by funding service activities designed and implemented by the Rikkyo University scholarship students. The scholarship increases awareness of the importance of service to others.

Designed to support activities grounded in volunteer work and the Christian faith, the Memorial Scholarship has been funded by the ACK since 1982 with the Dr. Paul Rusch Memorial Fund. Students have received anywhere from 150,000 to 500,000 yen ($1,300-$4,400 at the current exchange rate). The service projects have ranged from projects abroad in the Philippines and China, to work within Japan and Tokyo. Students are chosen based on a recommendation letter, their expected activities, and an interview process.