The Cleveland Council on World Affairs' Global Ambassadors program took nine bright and talented emerging civic leaders on an unforgettable learning journey through Cleveland, Helsinki and Madrid.

Global Ambassadors is a transformative year-long global leadership development program for emerging leaders in Northeast Ohio. This program is CCWA’s way of investing in rising civic and public leaders with the aim of deepening their impact on our community.

The Global Ambassadors program strengthens the participants global and professional competencies and invites them to explore Cleveland’s connections to the world and compare opportunities and challenges for global cities, with a focus on what matters for us here in Cleveland: economic development, sustainability and community-building.

The 2024-2025 Global Ambassadors began their journey in fall 2024 with an 8-week course to explore how they can shape Northeast Ohio through a more global lens. This spring, they participated in a series of roundtables with thought leaders in Cleveland to discuss key issues related to economic development, sustainability, and community building.

The program culminated in an international study trip to Helsinki, Finland, and Madrid, Spain. This study trip allowed the Global Ambassadors to take all of their Cleveland-based learning to those two cities where they engaged with civic leaders, business innovators, and policymakers to exchange strategies for how these global cities are implementing forward-thinking initiatives.

The study trip took place May 2-10, 2025. During their first stop, the delegation was hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki and received a tour of the Parliament of Finland, followed by a meeting with Member of the Parliament Miapetra Kumpala-Natri to discuss key domestic and foreign policy issues, especially where the U.S. is concerned.

To explore economic development, we met with Helsinki Partners, a city marketing, investment and talent attraction company owned by the City of Helsinki. Helsinki Partners matches investors, entrepreneurs, talent and visitors with opportunities in Helsinki. We also met with the CEO of Maria 01, one of the leading startup operators in the Nordic region. The Maria 01 campus provides a thriving environment for startups, where founders and investors build a supportive entrepreneurial community.

To learn about sustainability efforts in Finland, Global Ambassadors met with the City of Helsinki’s climate unit, transportation unit, and energy company, HELEN, to discuss Helsinki’s plans to achieve carbon neutrality in 2030, zero emissions by 2040 and a carbon negative (or climate positive) footprint after that.

Looking at community building efforts, the cohort met with FEMMA Planning, a company specializing in participatory city planning. Their work focuses on ensuring that stakeholder groups have their voices heard in projects impacting their neighborhoods. The delegation also met with Faktabaari, a fact-checking and digital information literacy service to explore how Finland is combatting disinformation. Finally, the Finnish American Association, SAM (Suomi-Amerikka Yhdistysten Litto) hosted a networking reception with our Global Ambassadors.

During our time in Madrid, to learn about economic development efforts, the group met with La Nave, an innovation and entrepreneurship hub that drives economic growth by supporting startups and small businesses. The delegation also met with the Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (the international arm of the Spanish Department of Commerce) which operates a global network of economic and trade offices, offering localized expertise and strategic guidance to companies seeking to establish or strengthen their presence abroad. This was followed by a networking event with YMCA Europe where we were joined by young Spanish professionals, who shared their experiences as young leaders in Spain.

To explore Madrid’s forward-thinking urban development and sustainability efforts, the delegation visited the A-5 tunnelling project, "Nuevo Paseo del Suroeste de Madrid," which shifts a portion of the highway around Madrid underground to free up surface space for green areas, bike lanes, and pedestrian paths. The visit was organized by the Office of Sustainability for the City of Madrid.

Exploring community building efforts in Madrid, the delegation met with Maletas de Cartón, a non-profit that creates a supportive and mentoring network for migrants and refugees. Silvia Gabriele, founder and executive director of Maletas de Cartón, is also a trainer for the European Union Agency for Asylum in Madrid. We met with two refugees with whom the organization works, both of whom shared their migration experiences; Ruba: a refugee from Syria who leads ceramic workshops with the Association Espacio Rojo; and Abdelkarim: a refugee from Burkina Faso who paints his experience crossing the Spanish Moroccan border. This session also included lunch with 3 Letras PAN, a bakery that employs migrants.

Finally, the cohort met with representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Spain and Senator Vicente Azpitarte Pérez, who represents Granada for the Partido Popular (PP) political party, to discuss U.S.-Spain ties.

The Global Ambassadors program provides dynamic young professionals in Cleveland with opportunities for actionable strategies to connect internationally through innovation, collaboration, and investment, and gives them the vision, exposure, and skills to make a difference for our region in a complex, globalized reality. The participants are selected for their commitment to civic leadership, potential for impact in their communities, and desire to build bridges between Cleveland and the world. Click here to apply to the 2025-2026 cohort of Global Ambassadors.

Global Ambassadors explores how the Cleveland area is connected to the global economy, what our comparative advantages are, how civil society leaders can help build community and inclusion in our region to make it more attractive, and how to incorporate sustainability thinking more broadly. The goal is to explore how other international metropolitan areas are operationalizing forward-looking initiatives and building professional ecosystems. This is societal innovation and global learning by inspiration.