continues this work, founding the Freeland Foundation, which is the lead implementing partner of Asia's Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking (ARREST), a program sponsored by the U.S. government in partnership with ASEAN and over fifty governmental and non-governmental organizations. The material that was collected during those two years is housed at the Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI), The University of Texas at Austin United Nations Day of Tolerance Beginning in 1985, Mitchell began an association with Irving Sarnoff, the Executive Director of Friends of the United Nations (FOTUN), and his co-Founder, Dr. Noel Brown, Director of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), North America. The Friends of the United Nations is an NGO dedicated to advocating support for programs of the United Nations. As part of their work on international social issues Mitchell was asked to create a celebration for the United Nations International Day for Tolerance in 1999. The International Day for Tolerance is an annual observation declared by UNESCO in 1995 to generate public awareness of the dangers of intolerance. Mitchell organized the 1999 event honoring Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union and Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, politician and Chairman of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute of State and Global Policy. Keynote speakers included John Kerry, U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of State. Rural development One of the first projects integrating agricultural development, sustainability, community and social values, and economic growth was in a region of Qingdao, China where his company, MCM Group, brought international blueberry agricultural experts to develop what is considered now one of the world's largest blueberry farms (The Qingdao Cangma Mountain Development). The project included hi-technology organic agriculture, agritourism, educational programs, local culture and residential development to provide the local rural community with a successful economic transition. Lectures and education Invited by universities in the U.S., China, South Korea and Japan, he has given lectures and planning studios, sharing his professional experience with students and faculty members. University of Michigan, ERB Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise – "Sustainability, Design Thinking, and Business Strategies: Developing 'Optimal Environments' in China" - March, 2011 "Experiential Design," Lecture at Tianjin University of Technology, April 20, 2012 Featured speaker at China's first International Architectural Education Forum held at Tianjin University, along with Karl Otto Ellefsen, the Director of the Oslo School of Architecture and President of the European Association for Architectural Education, and Preston Scott Cohen, Professor of