Serhii Morhunov Discussed Possible Areas of Cooperation with Douglas Gardner, a Veteran of the UN Service from Boulder

Vinnytsia continues to communicate and establish partnerships with representatives of various foreign institutions and organizations at the municipal level. Yesterday, on October 24, the mayor met with Douglas Gardner, a veteran of the UN and director of the Highland Institute in Boulder, USA.

"I had the opportunity to meet with Douglas Gardner, a veteran of the UN and director of the Highland Institute in Boulder (USA). Currently, he is actively promoting cooperation with Vinnytsia Pedagogical University in dealing with psychological traumas of the military and children caused by the war. This issue will remain relevant during the war and after our victory," said Serhii Morhunov.

In 2002-2004, Douglas Gardner was the coordinator of the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine. Now he works extensively in the field of comprehensive assistance to veterans of the US military service. He is an ambassador for the International Institute for the Study of Trauma.

"Today is a very emotional moment for me because I worked in Ukraine 20 years ago. Now I live in Boulder, Colorado. I head a think tank at the Highland Institute in Boulder. Given the fact that I lived in Ukraine for a long time, my work is connected to Ukraine. We have focused on working with war trauma. This topic will be quite important when the Victory comes. Vinnytsia Pedagogical University is also doing incredible work in this area. Our goal is to promote this area of work together," said Douglas Gardner.

However, according to him, the issue of working with war trauma is only part of the purpose of his visit to Vinnytsia.

"Douglas Gardner is also initiating a partnership with a city in Colorado, so we will move in that direction. I am grateful to Mr. Gardner for his visit and for his desire to establish friendly relations between our institutions and cities," said Mayor Serhii Morhunov.

According to the volunteer, he was pleasantly surprised that Vinnytsia has been repeatedly recognized as the most comfortable city to live in.

"The city of Boulder is the same way. And this inspired me to think about the possibility of deepening relations between the two cities. Among American cities, Boulder is also one of the most attractive for living. The city has a large university with 40,000 students. We have a large concentration of potential for the development of science and technology. In addition, Boulder is an environmentally friendly city. This also applies to energy saving and emission reduction," said Douglas Gardner.