The Foreign Service Institute, in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of American Affairs (DFA), organized a briefing for the Midwest Youth Leaders in Diaspora (YouLEAD) Immersion Program Participants on 4 January 2019 at the Carlos P. Romulo Library, DFA, Pasay.

This briefing was held to give the YouLEAD participants an overview of the functions of DFA and highlighted its work with and assistance to Filipinos overseas.

The resource person was Atty. Sandra Therese Christine C. Guiang, Principal Assistant of DFA-Office of Migrant Workers Affairs. The lecture focused on the Philippines’s best practices in good governance and laws implemented for the welfare of Filipino communities abroad.

Atty. Guiang presenting her lecture and asking questions to the participants

The Midwest YouLEAD Immersion Program, a pilot project of the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago in partnership with the Commission on Filipino Overseas, aims to promote deeper understanding and appreciation of Philippine culture and heritage among the second and third generations of Filipinos in the U.S. Midwest. Moreover, the program envisions the participants to be more involved in promoting the interests of the Philippines in the U.S., after their immersion trip.

The participants of the Midwest YouLEAD Immersion Program together with Atty. Sandra Guiang. Thirteen (13) Fil-Am youth leaders from Midwestern States such as Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota and Missouri attended the briefing.