Hutchinson ? A dozen Catholic and Protestant teenagers from Northern Ireland are spending July in Hutchinson in a program that helps them bridge barriers in their home country.

Thousands of teens from Northern Ireland have taken part since 1975 in the Ulster Project. The program sends them abroad to neutral sites to learn about each other in ways not always possible in their deeply divided nation.

The Hutchinson News reports that the central Kansas community has embraced the Ulster Project for several years, with some local families hosting the teens and their counselors year after year.

The project has sites across the U.S., but Hutchinson is a popular choice among the Ulster teens. Roughly 100 applied this year to be placed in Hutchinson and McPherson, but only 20 could be accommodated.