The J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative, of which MacArthur is a founding partner, will reach more than one million young people in the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States and connect them in sustained and meaningful ways that enhance their confidence, capacity for mutual respect, and strengthen people-to-people and interfaith relations. The $31 million multilateral, public-private endeavor named in honor of the late Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens aims to achieve the largest-ever increase in people-to-people educational exchanges between the United States and the Middle East. The initiative will equip young people with the language, digital literacy, critical thinking, and cross-cultural communication skills they need to succeed in today’s global economy. The first pilot program to virtually connect ten classrooms in the United States and Morocco will begin in early 2015. Applications are now being accepted from schools that have an interest in participating.
