YSI and DIA History

YSI created DIA to be its youth service demonstration project in Central and Eastern Europe, with a heavy emphasis on programming and policy development in Hungary. This region was selected because YSI’s Executive Director, Richard Harrill, had been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Veszprem, Hungary (1993 - 1995), teaching in the secondary and higher education systems and conducting research on its emerging third sector. YSI provided the venture capital for Harrill to move to Hungary in 1998, where he incorporated DIA as an NGO, designed and rolled-out its 6-city service-learning demonstration project. Harrill remained in Hungary for two years, hiring and training staff, developing a board of directors and securing funds to establish a Hungarian service-learning network and grow DIA into a regional youth service NGO. Today, DIA is growing to 25 sites in Hungary under the strong leadership of Ildiko Garas and Zsolt Pethe, Echoing Green Fellows. DIA has recently been selected by the Nokia corporation to implement its “Make a Connection” program, which will fund DIA expansion from 15 to 25 communities.