About

International Visitors Council of Metropolitan Detroit (IVC Detroit) is a nonprofit organization that administers international exchange programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other organizations who have an interest in promoting international relations.


Founded in 1972, IVC Detroit belongs to a national network of through our membership in the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) headquartered in Washington, DC.  Each year IVC brings hundreds of international visitors to Detroit introducing them to the city, its citizens and the metro area’s vast professional resources.


IVC Detroit is governed by a Board of Directors and is volunteer driven by Detroiters who promote citizen diplomacy.  Citizen diplomacy is the concept that the individual citizen has the right, even the responsibility, to shape U.S. foreign relations “one handshake at a time”.  Along with their national counterparts, IVC Detroit volunteers were nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.