Cross-Cultural Solutions is a recognized leader in the field of international volunteering. CCS has nearly 15 years of experience, and more than 20,000 alumni who have traveled to countries around the world. We have been featured in more than 500 publications and broadcasts, including CNN, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Time, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, The Toronto Star, The Today Show, USA Today, National Geographic Traveler, and ABC Nightly News.
NYTimes.com | Volunteer Tourism for Travelers on a Budget
July 18, 2011
Cross-Cultural Solutions
In addition to more traditional long-term volunteer initiatives, Cross-Cultural Solutions offers one-week trips in eight countries including Brazil, Costa Rica and Ghana, as part of its Insight Abroad program. Roughly 240 people each paid about $1,990 last summer to paint schoolyards, plant vegetable gardens at centers for the elderly and work at day care centers.
What You Get: A tax deduction. Program fees are 100 percent tax-deductible for many United States residents, according to the company, which is an independent nonprofit organization. Payments toward program fees (which goes toward basic lodging, meals, drinking water and the volunteer project itself) that are submitted online from volunteers with a billing address in the United States will automatically receive a tax receipt through the company’s online payment system. Clean, modest accommodations with shared occupancy rooms are the standard, and ...
CCS Helping to Connect International Service and Higher Education - PR Newswire - sacbee.com
July 18, 2011
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., June 15, 2011 -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS) promotes the importance of international volunteering as an educational and academic experience in many ways, including attending the recent 2011 NAFSA conference.
CCS offers volunteer and intern abroad programs that are popular with students; many of whom have obtained academic credit for their participation, especially in the fields of education, health, and social services. To encourage the trend, CCS has been actively involved in positioning international volunteering as a respected form of education abroad — especially international service-learning.
Wall Street Journal | Best Volunteer Options for Any Budget
May 23, 2011
Your room, board and airfare in some cases are tax-deductible if you travel with a nonprofit. Vincent Mirrione, 69, of Newman, Calif., has taken seven trips with Cross-Cultural Solutions, a nonprofit operator in New Rochelle, N.Y., for six to eight weeks at a time. His work at a Guatemala soup kitchen and orphanage, Russian senior centers and a project that Mother Teresa started in India have wound up costing about $300 a week after the tax break, he says.
Travel + Leisure | The Rise in Voluntourism
May 23, 2011
But Singh recalls the year CCS launched a program in Rajgarh, an isolated spot about eight hours southeast of Dharmsala. "Electricity had just come to the town," she recalls. One of the volunteers that season was a naval engineer. "She was a very bright girl; she stood out in the group." One afternoon, she talked to children at a local school about her job. Three years later, Singh was visiting volunteers in
Rajgarh when a schoolgirl raced up to her. "She said, 'Guess what?I've just been admitted to engineering college. I'm going to build ships, too.'"
The Wall Street Journal | Help Wanted: 'Voluntour' at Home and Abroad
June 29, 2010
Known as "voluntourism" or service travel, a growing number of people are combining volunteering with a vacation. Organizations that run these trips report an uptick in the number of new volunteers and inquiries, particularly after a round of natural disasters and global events that have inspired travelers to want to help out during their vacations. With hundreds of programs to choose from, it's crucial for travelers to do their homework before they take off, says Genevieve Brown, executive director of the International Volunteer Programs Association, an association of nongovernmental organizations involved in international volunteer work and internship exchanges.
CNN.com | More older Americans signing on to volunteer abroad
July 15, 2009
Cross-Cultural Solutions, a nonprofit in New York that offers volunteer trips to countries like Russia and Peru from one to 12 weeks, experienced more than a 10 percent growth in volunteers over 50 in 2008, compared with 2007, according to company officials.
TIME | Volunteer Vacations
July 28, 2009
Jamie Cann and his wife, Mary, returned recently from a trip to Tanzania. Jamie spent his days in a home for orphans and vulnerable children, teaching English and playing soccer with the kids. Mary taught English and math at a nearby primary school. "It was an incredible experience for us to share," says Jamie of the trip they booked through Cross-Cultural Solutions ... "To do something like this, to share such an important, meaningful, experience has strengthened our relationship."
Washington Square News | Sternies volunteer in Peruvian town
May 04, 2010
The Stern program has partnered with Cross-Cultural Solutions, a non-profit organization that allows participants to take part in various cultural and learning activities, including hiking around the local area, exploring the city and watching a local dance performance at the same elementary school where they worked.
AARP Magazine | The Virtuous Vacation
July 15, 2009
My wife, Karen, and I stand sweating in a stuffy classroom, ready to help teach English. We’re in Costa Rica on a volunteer vacation through Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS), a nonprofit working in 12 countries. Giggling third graders fidget behind long desks, but there’s no sign of the teacher we’re here to assist. Karen and I assume we’ll be English aides...
