What happens when you bring together a group of students from the Portland metro area and a group from Josephine County in Southern Oregon for a two-week cultural exchange?  At a time when our country seems more and more factionalized the Exchange for Change program was devised as a way for urban and rural youth to spend a week in each distinct community to share perspectives, explore differences, understand similarities, and more than anything build connections and friendships.  Rob had the opportunity to share a zoom session with students Maia and Ashley, as well as Southern Oregon Exchange for Change leaders Jann Taylor and Adele Garcia and Portland Exchange for Change leaders George Zaninovich, Lindsay Babbitt & Krystal Wu. They shared what the program is all about and how its impact still reverberates a year later.

Info for Exchange for Change on the PLACE website: http://www.thecenterpdx.org/place-summer-programs

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