Project Smile, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State and implemented by IREX, provides grants to alumni of selected ECA-sponsored programs to implement community service activities that will benefit an underprivileged group in their local community such as children at an orphanage, the disabled or the elderly.

On Saturday, December 19, 2009, during the most festive time of the year, 13 Muskie and UGRAD alumni took part in a roundtable dedicated to the topic of “Religious Tolerance in Ukraine".

From July 21 to July 22, 2009, the Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden visited Ukraine. On the morning of July 22, he delivered a foreign-policy speech to 500 guests at the Ukrainian House in downtown Kyiv. Among the specially-invited guests were nearly twenty Muskie and UGRAD alumni.

Nineteen finalists of the UGRAD program spent a productive three days in Kyiv for their pre-departure orientation. On the first day of July, the fellows arrived and were congratulated by the Public Affairs Officer from the U.S. Embassy, Chris Fitzgerald. Following the introduction, the finalists reviewed the program rules and regulations through an interactive quiz.

In April, IREX staff worked with representatives from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on a plan to donate clothing to a migrant center in Ukraine. During the months of May and June, IREX staff and ECA alumni collected twenty bags of clothing and shoes for this purpose. In late June, in partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOI) of Ukraine, IOM organized an Observatory Mechanism (OM) monitoring visit to the MOI-administered Migrant Accommodation Center (MAC) inZhuravychi, Volyn Region from June 24-25.