“Anybody with an interest can come,” Mick said. “I think they’re going to get the most from casual conversation and having this cultural and international exchange.”
The ACYPL, an educational non-profit organization, creates such dialogues throughout the world each year by sending Americans on political study-abroad tours and brining international delegations to the U.S.
Mick himself traveled Australia in 2009 as an American representative for the ACYPL. So when the organization asked him to host the Roma delegation in Kentucky, he had two reasons to accept.
“I’m an alumnus of the group,” he said. “But they had no idea that I was of Roma descent or connected to that population.”
Mick is a descendant of the Roma community in England called Romanichals, and he’s been interested in the Roma human rights concerns for some time.
“I’m going to learn more about these issues when the delegation visits here,” he said.
In exchange, the Roma delegation will gain an understanding of the American government system.
They spent last week in Washington, D.C., examining the functions of the Federal government, and they are visiting Kentucky to speak to state and local politicians and citizens.
The group will visit cities including Lexington, Somerset, Covington and Frankfort and meet with Assistant Secretary of State Allen Eskridge, Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday and representatives of The Center for Rural Development among others.
Judge-Executive Wilson, who is also an ACYPL alumnus, said the focus of the conversation in Garrard County will be the structure of local governments.
“We look for any opportunity to expand our network of friends for the county,” he said. “We have found that these types of interactions always have a positive impact.”
One citizen, who contacted Mick about the community reception, is looking forward to the delegation’s visit for a unique reason.
“He’s excited to come and talk to them because he is fluent in Italian and never gets to speak it,” Mick said.
