- ENVEST, which stands for Empowering New Voices through Education and Sport Training, is a series of sports diplomacy missions aimed at ways sport can create social change.
- The grant funding this program is provided by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through their Sports Diplomacy Division.
- The grant was awarded to the Center for Sport Leadership at VCU (CSL), a graduate program which teaches the business and impact of the sport industry. The CSL was recently ranked among the top 15 sports management programs in the world.
- ENVEST will operate under the leadership of Dr. Carrie LeCrom, a recent Fulbright Scholar recipient who has been awarded more than $2 million in grants from the U.S. Department of State and has partnered with ECA to lead sport-for-development missions in Ethiopia, China and South Africa.
- ENVEST consists of four separate cultural exchanges with countries in South and Central Asia. Those countries are Kazakhstan, India, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan.
- Exchange 4 will take place between delegations from Richmond, Virginia and Turkmenistan. The programming will center around adaptive sports and creating recreational opportunities for people with physical disabilities and visual impairments.
- Exchange 4 international partner will be Turkmenistan’s recently created Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs. A delegation of 20 ambassadors, coaches and athletes from Turkmenistan will travel to the United States on November 1, 2018 through November 8, 2018.
- A return trip to Turkmenistan by the U.S. delegation is scheduled for March 2019
- Exchange 4 domestic partner will be Sportable, an adaptive sport organization based in Richmond, VA
The goals of ENVEST are:
1) Harness the power of sport as a teaching tool to increase mutual understanding
between people of the United States and people of South and Central Asia;
2) Provide opportunities for sport coaches, administrators, and youth to learn and
develop in ways that will benefit their home communities;
3) Engage multiple groups in creating action plans around clearly identified social issues;
4) Create an ongoing dialogue and open lines of communication between all participants
to promote the exchange of ideas before, during, and after completion of the program,
which will support the program’s long-term sustainability and multiplier effect.