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Friday, September 30, 2011

MULTICULTURAL CORNER: TRACEY FRILEY, A TRAVEL PHILANTHROPIST!!!!


Interview by Aisha of the Hartlyn Kids blog:
One day while skimming through Facebook I found a link for a non-profit campaign called "Passport Party Project" which is dedicated to bringing travel and culture to girls throughout the United States by giving them their first passports for FREE! Of course I was immediately intrigued because I saw the word "passport" and I am always looking to connect with proponents of travel.

We love to applaud and spotlight individuals who make it their goal to celebrate diversity, travel and culture. What a pleasure it was to get to know the person BEHIND this fabulous campaign!  Please join me in welcoming Tracey Friley, founder of the Passport Party Project.

Read more here.

Passport Project Makes Girls' Dreams Come True

This was published by the Santa Monica Patch on September 21, 2011.
***
Globe-trotters often take their passport for granted, thinking of it merely as a packet of papers they can't forget when traveling outside the U.S.
But Tracey Friley, founder of the Passport Party Project, has a different view. She sees the passport as a key to gaining access to the world, broadening one's cultural horizons and, for young girls in particular, even building self-confidence.
Friley, a San Francisco-based wanderlust, also blogs at OneBrownGirl.com and is executive director of OBG Adventure Camps for girls.
"Through my camp program, I found that 80 percent of girls don't have passports, which are required to travel in my program," she told Santa Monica Patch. "I looked into statistics and found that only 30 percent of Americans have a passport."
To that end, she has launched the Passport Party Project, a multi-faceted adventure through which girls ages 11 to 16 can learn about and acquire the critical document.
Read more here.

Passport Day a chance to get one the easy way


Published September 11, 2011 in the Travel Section of the San Francisco Chronicle.
***
On the surface, it's a booklet of mostly blank, sickly colored pages, covered in cheap vinyl, in which the only contents are dull details, blurry ink smudges and just one photograph - usually a bad one.
But to Tracey Friley, that booklet can change a young girl's life. Maybe the world.
"I hope that by girls getting their first passports, they view themselves and their place in the world in a whole new way," said Friley, founder of the Passport Party Project, a campaign of "gifting" girls 11 to 16 years old with their first passports. The project is holding events around the country (including in San Francisco in March 2013) to raise awareness about passports and travel, and to raise money for application fees for girls in each city to receive passports. She held a pilot event in Oakland in June. 
"I hope they continue to learn and teach tolerance of other cultures both at home and abroad," she said. "I hope they see the change that is needed in the world and then consider how they might help."
Read more here.

'Passport Parties' give girls the opportunity to see the world

Published September 15, 2011 on OaklandLocal.com.
***
When Tracey Friley discovered that only 30 percent of American citizens hold passports, she asked herself how many of these people come from diverse backgrounds and how many are kids.
As owner of Oakland-based OBG Adventure Camps - a travel program for girls 11 to 16 that encourages a “multicultural camp experience” - she started requiring that her campers travel with passports. She found - like the statistics showed - that most didn’t have them.
The dismal nationwide passport statistics she encountered compelled Friley to expand her work. She didn’t waste time looking for answers - she took action.
“It stopped being about my camp program,” she said. 
In order to help girls across the country get their first passports, Friley devised the idea of a “Passport Party” - a daylong celebration of travel that includes lunch, outdoor activities and trip to get passport photos taken. Participants' parents receive a passport application and instructions by mail and once they schedule an appointment with the passport office, Friley provides them with money orders for the fees. 
“It’s really a celebration that these girls are getting their passport,” she said. "We’re helping to give them a world view."  Read more here.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

LA Passport Party Video

Freedom & Fearlessness - My Passport Story


As a travel & learning adventure camp owner, I meet a lot of parents that operate from fear and a lack of trust and often (and inadvertently) get in the way of their children's growth.  Shenia's parents managed to find a way to get past their own fear when Shenia decided to go to a study abroad program to Spain while in college.  Naturally, Shenia needed a passport.  ~ Tracey

"My study-abroad trip served as one of the defining experiences in my life. I went across the world, not knowing a soul. And, the roommate that I met in Spain became one of my dearest friends.  I was not fluent in the language, but I managed to travel around the city and throughout country with minimal issues. The courage (and, admittedly, cockiness) that it took to do just that left me feeling incredibly empowered. I was more brave and capable than I ever realized. I really could live out my dreams."  Read more here.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Destination: Passport

From SabbaticalScapes.com:  "Unable to shake the nagging desire to travel and live life to the fullest, Angela Petitt took a step of faith and quit her corporate IT job in August 2009 to go on sabbatical. 
When she made the decision, Ms. Petitt really had no clue what was next. But, a few days after her last day at work, she was on a plane to Italy! From that point on, she found herself on a different adventure every month!"
Angela has been on sabbatical for 2 years now and blogs at SabbaticalScapes.  She is an advocate of The Passport Party Project and has lots to share about her own adventures and of course...her passport:
"I have climbed the Great Wall in China, narrowly escaped the earthquake in Japan, watched beautiful sunsets over the Grand Cayman islands, snorkeled near the Twin Peaks in St. Lucia, been surprised with flowers from an admirer in Italy, cruised the Alaska’s Inside Passage to beautiful British Colombia.  I have also traveled to Egypt, Israel, Honduras, Austria, Greece, Colombia, Nicaragua, Germany, Panama, France, Switzerland, and many other amazing destinations.  All because I took a step of faith, got my passport, and stepped out."  Read more here

Friday, September 2, 2011

The Passport Party Project

This is Sheryll and her blog is called The Wanderlust Project.  Great smile.  And a great heart too.  =)  Turns out she's in the midst of a quarterlife crisis because she has...you guessed it...wanderlust.  She'll be volunteering and sharing her travel stories with the girls at the LA Passport Party on September 17, 2011.  But in the meantime, she wants you to know how important her passport is to her.  Check this out.