Our Projects
In
2000 the PSC was awarded a $95,000 state Dept. grant for a two year
high school environmental exchange program between Portsmouth HS,
Oyster River HS in Durham, NH and Severodvinsk Gymnaisa #14, the
only English specialty school in the city. Two sets of
students visited for three week exchanges, researched and presented
environmental topics and learned about the challenges facing each
region.
PSC members have made several private visits to Severodvinsk. During
one such visit in 2002, we made a connection with Solnishko, the
home for abandoned children which we have supported with financial
contributions ever since.
In
2002 the PSC welcomed Severodvinsk mayor Alexander Beliaev and his
wife Valentina for a visit to Portsmouth. The mayor toured local
facilities including the new natural gas plant and Portsmouth
hospital. This visit gave a real legitimacy to the exchange back in
Russia and has facilitated the exchanges ever since.
In
2003 former Russian naval officer Alexander Nikitin was welcomed by
the PSC for a series of talks about the dangers of nuclear pollution
in the White and Barents seas. Nikitin had a high profile in Russia
at the time for having exposed such pollution to the news media.
Journalism was becoming more and more important to the work of the
PSC.
2005 marked the centennial of the Peace treaty marking the end of
the Russo Japanese war of 1905. Portsmouth prepared a great series
of events leading up to the centennial and as part of the
celebration, the PSC invited a group of Severodvinsk citizens to
join in the festivities. We ended up hosting 24 Russians for eleven
days, perhaps the largest delegation of Russians ever to visit the
NH seacoast. The group included several businessmen, educators, and
others and they presented a memorable cultural show for the public
as well as participating in discussions and centennial activities.
In 2006 the PSC helped facilitate the connection between Severodvinsk gymnastics and NHAAG a gymnastics academy in North Hampton. After Ivan Vorobiev visited the NH group in 2005, NHAAG sent a group of students, coaches and chaperones to Severodvinsk in the spring of 2006 for a series fo competitions with Severodvinsk gymnasts. This was a great success and added a whole new dimension to our connection.
In
2006 the PSC joined Sister Cities International along with NIchinan
Japan which also has a sister city connection with Portsmouth. This
connection allowed us to apply for Open World funding under the
Library of Congress. The PSC was awarded a grant to host a
delegation of four Russian journalists from the Severodvinsk region
and a facilitator, also a journalist, from Moscow in December, 2007.
The journalists visited media outlets, engaged in discussions and
presented a public forum on the state of journalism in Russia. The
visit was a success and resulted in some good connections being made
with local journalists here which may result in a reciprocal visit
to Severodvinsk.
In 2009 the PSC will host its second Open World delegation funded by the Library of Congress from Oct 10-18. Five Russian environmentalists and one facilitator from the Severodvinsk and Archangelsk region will visit the Portsmouth and surrounding areas to learn about recycling, waste disposal, nuclear waste issues and many other environmental efforts in this region.
If you would like to be further involved with the group, contact us at: alexherlihy@comcast.net