Canada, and the United States. Students participate in three–week exchanges in both Mexico and the U.S, meeting with NGOs and government officials, and explore issues like poverty and the environment from a local and international perspective. Young Artists and Authors Showcases: The Young Artists and Authors Showcases encourages youth ages 13–18 to express their vision of the sister city mission through original works of art and composition. Sister Schools: The Sister Schools program links youth in collaborative projects through a classroom, school or after-school activity. Students can engage in letter, video, or web cast exchange, leadership-building projects, fund-raising campaigns or projects tailored to their interests. Student Exchange Partnership: Sister Cities International offers youth exchange opportunities to its members. Through this partnership with American Cultural Exchange Service (ACES), sister city members can nominate and sponsor high school students from their sister city to study in the U.S. for a semester or a school year. The students live with host families and participate in local activities. Special Education and Virtual Learning in the U.S. and Palestine (SEVLUP) grant: Sister Cities International oversees two programs through its SEVLUP grant, the Gainesville program and the Muscatine program. The Gainesville program connects students in Florida and Qalqilya, Palestinian Territories in order to develop an ASL-Palestinian sign language video dictionary for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. The Muscatine program works with sister city Ramallah, Palestinian Territories, to provide special education training for middle school educators and expands intercultural curricula for special education students. Economic and sustainable development Leading Asia: This three-year program aims to strengthen U.S.-Japan ties by increasing opportunity for current partnerships and promoting new U.S.-Japan sister city relationships. Leading Asia will fund the travel of 12 U.S. cities to their Japanese sister city to develop new programs in areas of: “business development, sustainability, creative economies, and young professional development”. Innovation in Sustainable Development—Energy Award: With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Sister Cities International added an energy category to its Annual Awards program. Open World Program: Sister Cities International and World Serves of La Crosse, Inc., partner to administer the Open World Program. Since 2002, U.S. sister city communities have hosted nearly 400 emerging leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Uzbekistan to learn more about accountability, transparency and citizen participation in government. The Open World Program is sponsored by the Open World Center, which is affiliated with the U.S. Library of Congress.