For the past two weeks Ive had a great experience as an intern at the US Mexico Foundation. Today I visited the Woodrow Wilson Center of Scholars, one of the most recognized think tanks in the world. The US-Mexico Foundation staff and interns attended the conference of "America´s future in the Balance: Persistent Underfunding of Latino Communities across the Americas", this conference was very exiting because it hosted very influential academics and policy makers. Among the speakers was Hilda Lucia Solis currently serving in the Obama Administration as Secretary of Labor, and Andrew Selee, Director of the Mexican Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The main theme of the conference was to present new academic research proving how Latino communities in the US account for under 2% of grants and philanthropy. The speakers insisted the negative impact of the current immigration policy in philanthropic funding to Latino communities, and the importance of attending this problem knowing that the Latino population is the fastest growing community in the US. The information the speakers gave was very insightful, it helped me understand the challenges NGO´s are facing today, particularly those funding minorities.
The US-Mexico Foundation along with thousands NGOs are struggling in todays economy for resources to support their philanthropic activities around the world. At the US Mexico Foundation it is a daily job to overcome this challenges and get private companies on board to support your projects and vision. I have learned a lot this past two weeks and I hope new opportunities come throughout the summer to learn more about the challenges between the US and Mexico and its application to public policy.
Luis T.
No comments:
Post a Comment