August 26, 2010

Flores discusses contributions of HSIs at meetings with high ranking public and non-profit sector officials in Washington, DC

During a recent trip to the nation’s capital, HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores met with representatives of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In Flores’ meeting with Randi Weingarten, National President of the AFT, the two leaders committed to taking the first steps to create a national campaign to double the number of qualified Hispanic teachers working in the nation’s schools by 2015.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten with HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores.

“We especially welcome the opportunity to work with AFT, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and other teacher-training institutions to expand teacher education programs,” Flores said during the meeting. “It is crucial that we prepare more PK-12 teachers that are culturally and linguistically prepared to address the needs of Hispanic students and English Language Learners.”

The AFT represents 1.5 million PK-12 teachers, paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel, higher education faculty and professional staff, federal, state and local government employees, nurses and healthcare workers, and early childhood educators. The AFT works with a number of organizations in multiple program and policy areas on campaigns, programs, working groups and task forces.

Flores also met with Ambassador Bill Garvelink and other senior USAID officials from the Food Security Initiative division. During the meeting, Flores emphasized the importance of building better relationships with HSIs in the United States as well as with institutions of higher learning in Latin America and elsewhere abroad. HACU and USAID are currently exploring opportunities to collaborate on the important issue of Food Security in relation to Latin America.

USAID representatives Dr. Amit Mistry, Ambassador Bill Garvelink, and Karen Frederickson with HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores.

"HACU is well positioned to assist the USAID through member institutions which have a strong focus on agricultural programs in the U.S. and abroad.  We would also like to explore ways to engage more Hispanic students in pursuing public service careers at USAID through their Development Leadership Initiative program,” Flores said at the meeting with USAID officials.

USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. The agency’s work supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting agriculture and trade, global health and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance in five regions around the world.