Good Neighbor Programs Bring CIEE’s Mission to Life in Mérida
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As part of the CIEE Community Impact Initiative, CIEE launched two new High School Summer Study Abroad programs: Good Neighbor Kitchen and Good Neighbor PlayLab. These ten-day study abroad experiences for U.S. high school students combine career skill development in culinary arts or early childhood education with meaningful service-learning opportunities in the local community.
During a visit with the inaugural cohort in Mérida, Mexico, CIEE President and CEO James Pellow joined students at CIEE partner organization Comedor Zarigüeyas, where students delivered their first meal made entirely from scratch to more than 20 local children. The experience allowed students to witness firsthand the impact of their work and the power of community partnership.
CIEE: Hi Jim! We’re here today at the local organization “Comedor Zarigüeyas” to see the “Good Neighbor” programs come to life for the first time. Can you tell us a little bit about CIEE’s vision for these programs and what they’re all about?
Jim Pellow: The whole vision behind the Good Neighbor program is basically tied back to our roots.
We were founded almost eighty years ago to find ways to bring the world together, to advance peace in our world, and we've been doing it for a very long time. We have over a million alumni who have participated in scores of different CIEE programs and each program is different. Some are based on language, some are based on culture, some are based on business, or engineering, or service, and we think that one of the most universal languages that fosters mutual respect is community service engagement.
Our board recently challenged the management team to come up with a major program that would impact lots of lives, both American lives as well as international lives. They challenged us to leverage the power of community in a way that would be consequential. And so, the Good Neighbor Kitchen and Good Neighbor Playlab programs basically do just that.
The idea is: let's find a way to have American students come together overseas and develop real career skills. The pilot program includes culinary arts and early childhood education with a focus on brain development. And so there's real career skills being shaped.
As the students learn and become engaged in the local community, they apply skills immediately. So today, we're here at one of our local community service partners, and the students have just been through a local training program for culinary arts, with one of the finest culinary training centers in all of Mérida, perhaps all of Mexico. They've learned skills, they actually cook food, and then they transported the food here to one of our favorite community partners.
CIEE: What is CIEE’s ultimate goal with the Good Neighbor programs?
JP: Our ultimate goal is to not only bring Americans to international locations to learn career skills and engage in community service, but also to bring Americans from different backgrounds together. Students that don't live near one another in America, that go to different types of schools across America, they'll be mixing together, as well, and developing mutual respect and understanding.
So the bridges that we'll build of mutual respect and peace will include Americans getting to know Americans, and Americans getting to know international communities. Someday we hope that the Good Neighbor programs will serve 1,000 students from across America each and every year. That's our vision! And we're delighted that the first cohorts are having a great time.
CIEE: Good Neighbor participants certainly bond as they participate in hands-on activities together, such as learning a recipe from a local chef and preparing and delivering a multiple-course meal as a team, or discovering a local Mayan folk tale and working as a group to hand-make costumes and props to lead “storytime” with the children at Zarigüeyas!
JP: It doesn't matter what the student’s background is, or what academic major that students might be interested in. We think that a program like this is powerful for everyone and will impact every student in ways we can't even imagine. So, we hope you'll join us.
The CIEE Good Neighbor programs are fully funded by CIEE as part of its founding mission to help provide access to study abroad and international exchange programs to all students from all backgrounds. After the successful pilot in summer 2026, CIEE will expand Good Neighbor programs to additional international locations and open enrollment to additional partner high schools across the United States. Learn more about CIEE’s Community Impact Initiative.