10-8-2014 Rotary in Russia & Business Development
In the mid 80s, Tennison predicted that a mass exodus of Jews from the USSR would be permitted by the end of 1980s, and that the dissolution of the Soviet system would occur before the end of the century. In 1989, CCI began implementing month long internships and business-training programs for Soviet entrepreneurs. In 1993 CCI was given its first multi-million dollar USAID grant to expand its work in grassroots economic development throughout Russia’s regions. Concurrently, Tennison was given a White House appointment as one of 13 Board Members to oversee President Clinton’s new Russian-American Enterprise Fund (RAEF), a $350 million fund, which supported the development of small business across Russia.
Tennison was highlighted as one of nine pathfinders in Citizen Diplomats: Pathfinders in Soviet-American Relations (Harper and Row 1987), and was the Executive Producer for the TV productions “When the People Lead”, “Soviets” and “Meet Middle America!” In 2011 she published the history of CCI, “The Power of Impossible Ideas: Ordinary Citizens' Extraordinary Efforts to Avert International Crises”. Last month Sharon returned to Russia to do long-term evaluations and to interview alumni on their understanding of current international affairs.