The World Youth Peace Summit brings out big names -- Colin Powell and Bill Clinton have spoken at past events hosted by the non-profit Institute for International Sport.
Dan Doyle founded the institute and said, "we hope to welcome as many as 20 or 25,000 people to the state. Many will be graduates of the scholar-athlete games." The scholar-athlete games are expected to bring 2,000 to UConn from nearly every country in the world. The summit will convene immediately following the games and will include current and former scholar-athletes from all over the world.
The 2011 Summit will be held in June in conjunction with the 2011 Scholar-Athlete World Games that will be hosted at UConn, as well. The athletic events and the summit will be held at various locations throughout the greater Hartford area, including Storrs, Rentschler Field, and Hartford.
The thousands expected to attend will pump millions of dollars into the local economy. At a press conference at the State Capitol Monday, Governor M. Jodi Rell announced, "that the economic impact is about $30 million in direct tourism spending."
The goal of both the games and the summit is to promote peace through the medium of sports and arts.
The summit includes a week-long intensive academic program. Dan Doyle said, "these people who attend the summit will be charged with going back to their communities and implementing these pathways to peace."
