The ACK is proud to partner with KEEP and other affiliated partners to offer programs that expand and strengthen our connections to each other. KEEP’s educational mission and global outreach frame the ACK’s programming. Together we further the legacy of Paul Rucsh with programs that are “Connecting The Separated” around the world.

Berea College Internship scholarships

Each year between two and four undergraduate students are sent as interns from Berea College to Seisen-Ryo. Thes interns serve in a variety of positions from English teachers to assitant museum curators. The ACK is proud to provide scholarships for these young adults as they are truly a living embodiment of connecting the separated.

Kentucky-japan SiSTER REGION exchange

Adult delegations from Japan travel to Kentucky annually  in May. Every October an adult delegation from Kentucky visits the Hokuto City. Delegates represent a broad spectrum of the community including government officials, business leaders, educators, and many other professional fields.

The American delegation includes two artisans and a Berea college student broom maker. The delegation hosts a Kentucky Booth at the Paul Rusch Festival Yatsugatake County Fair while the craftspeople demonstrate their craft at booths on the fairgrounds. The program fosters 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.

In 2006, a Kentucky Educational Television (KET) 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. More on the program can be found on KET’s web site.

Middle school hOMESTAY exchange

The middle school student exchange program began in 1990 between Berea and Takane. The exchange, which operates on a two-year cycle, expanded in 1992 to include the entire Madison County region. The Japanese students visit Kentucky first, and the following summer the American students are hosted by the same Japanese visitors from the previous year. The program is often the first opportunity these young adults have for international travel and cross-cultural learning. The program has incredible impact. One of the first Japanese exchange students now works for Hokuto City in its International Relations Department. He had the opportunity to visit Kentucky again with the Japanese delegation as a city staff member supporting the exchange program in 2006.

Receivers 2 Givers Program (R2G)

Beginning in the early 2000s the American Committee for KEEP has worked in close partnership with the Episcopal Community Action for Renewal and Empowerment Foundation (E-CARE) of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, specifically in collaboration with the R2G policy. In a Receivers to Givers arrangement, the funds are dispersed as micro-finance and livelihood production/creation grants to locally mobilized community agencies and cooperatives with a set timeline of repayment. However, what makes this program so beautiful and so practical, is that the grants are not paid back to E-CARE, but instead, the funds are paid forward to another, new, partner community. The analogy that Atty. Floyd P. Lalwet, National Development Officer of E-CARE, makes is between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. One only takes in and is barren and dead. The other takes in and gives back and is vibrant and healthy. To check out all of the products that are produced by R2G activities, click here!

KIZUNA Program

Since 2007 the American Committee for KEEP has been proud to support the work of Japanese NGO Peace Field Japan and their KIZUNA project. The KIZUNA project brings together young women from Israel, Japan, and Palestine to promote peace, reconciliation, and develop female leaders for the future.

This program aims to foster understanding, respect, and a global perspective in their young lives. It is hoped that through the development of this understanding and respect that a better future for all will be achieved.

Brian Kane Fellowship

The Brian Kane Fellowship Program began as a volunteer opportunity and expanded to a full-time salaried position in KEEP’s international relations department. The ACK Board of Directors created the fellowship in memory of the late ACK Board member Brian Kane. The fellowship 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 served in a variety of ways including teaching English at local schools as well as in community conversation classes,  led foreign movie nights, conducted foreign language conversation classes, helped create websites in English for the ACK, and implemented 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.

Artist Exchange Program

One member of each adult delegation is a visiting artist on the Artist Exchange Program. The artists stay longer than the rest of the delegation and visit local junior high schools to teach about their craft. Dancers, sculptors, watercolor artists, calligraphers and many other types of artists have participated since the program began in 1998. In 2007, an exhibit was held in Richmond, Kentucky celebrating the work of the artists from the first 10 years of exchange.