March 19, 1975
Page 7448
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment of the Senator from Maine will be stated.
The legislative clerk proceeded to read the amendment.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
On page 3, beginning on line 9 and continuing to line 11, strike the words "of which not more than $500,000 shall be available for the National Association of the Partners of the Alliance, Inc."
On page 4, between lines 23 and 24, insert the following: "National Association of the Partners of Partners of the Alliance, Inc.: For necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of Section 252(b), no less than $750,000."
Mr. MUSKIE. I have discussed this briefly with the distinguished floor manager, and I should like to take 2 or 3 minutes to explain its essence.
Mr. President, at a time when foreign assistance has come under serious scrutiny in this Congress, my amendment which increases the amount for the Partners of the Americas from the $500,000 approved by the committee to the $750,000, which is the current level of appropriation, is a program which will provide the greatest benefit for the least dollars and which involves our citizens in friendly relations with the nations to our south. The amendment provides a line item for the National Association of the Partners of the Alliance, Inc., otherwise known as the Partners of the Americas.
As its name applies, the Partners of the Americas is a two-way sharing of skills by the people of the Americas. It complements our official aid programs by linking volunteer private citizen groups in 43 of our States with counterpart volunteer organizations in 18 nations of Latin America and the Caribbean to conduct self-help projects in agriculture, nutrition, health, education, community development, disaster relief, trade and investment, rehabilitation, and other areas.
The combined value of these partnership projects since 1964 now exceeds $38 million, a figure that represents only cash contributions for school and hospital construction, scholarships, airplane tickets, hospitality costs, and the value of donated equipment and supplies, but in no way measures the value of the outstanding services rendered by distinguished volunteer specialists or the incalculable goodwill they have generated for our country in this hemisphere.
Emerging from the idealism of the early sixties as the private citizen component of the Alliance for Progress, Partners now stands as a fine expression of the "policy of the good partner" articulated by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger last year as the goal of our relations with other nations of the Americas. Over 38,000 volunteer technicians, specialists, agronomists, physicians, educators, students, city planners, and others have traveled to their partner area to conduct 5,700 projects affecting hundreds of thousands of people throughout the hemisphere.
In one project alone, over 50,000 Utah schoolchildren participate each year in the construction of schools on the rugged Bolivian Altiplano. In the past 5 years they have raised $82,000 to help build 65 elementary schools for 12,000 Bolivian peasant children, sharing costs with the Bolivian communities themselves which put up most of the materials and all of the labor. Recently, the Utah-Bolivia partners expanded this program to include the construction of a total medical-dental clinic in each village. The project also includes an integrated community education and adult literacy effort now extending to 450,000 villagers via educational television.
The direct Government investment in the above project came to a grand total of $5,700 in volunteer technician travel. This is, indeed, a dramatic example of how the Partners can get impressive results for very little money.
All of this was done by volunteers in cooperation with their counterparts in Latin America, but administrative support, in terms of training of volunteers, location of resources, administrative support, and the administration of travel funds came from NAPA, the central organization.
Obviously, the pro-rata portion of such administrative costs for the above project was incredibly small.
Historically, AID has provided a substantial portion of the NAPA administrative and travel funds. In the early days AID actually provided personnel and services. More recently, AID has endeavored to cut back on NAPA funding, apparently on the theory that NAPA should receive more of its funds from the private sector. Unfortunately, however, it is more difficult to raise funds for generalized and administrative purposes from private sources than it is to secure funds for the relatively more appealing project purposes. Both corporations and foundations wish to see the immediate impact of a particular project or at least the results of a broad specialized program rather than spending their funds on office personnel and unglamorous overhead.
In recognition of the above, the Congress in 1974 authorized a line item for NAPA and appropriated $750,000 pursuant to that line item so as to provide the necessary administrative and travel funds.
But the program will be in serious jeopardy this year unless a line item in the amount of $750,000 is included for NAPA in this foreign aid appropriations bill.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD material which documents in detail the kind of projects and the kind of effort on a voluntary basis which will be accomplished under the partners program.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
THE PARTNERS OF THE AMERICAS – THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE PARTNERS OF THE ALLIANCE, INC.
I. INTRODUCTION
The National Association of the Partners of the Alliance, Inc., which is generally known as the "Partners of the Americas", is a voluntary non-profit organization dedicated to the improvement of relations with the people of Latin America. There are some 45 United States partnerships operating in 43 states which, in turn, are coupled with 45 partnerships based in nations, regions or states in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Partners are dedicated to the provision of developmental and technical assistance in the form of voluntary services and privately contributed materials utilizing both AID and private funds for administrative support. The Partners are also engaged in other people-to-people programs in the sports and cultural areas but these programs are not AID funded. All of these programs are carried out by volunteer technicians and participants.
For each dollar provided by this appropriation, there are some $50 to $90 in goods and services being provided by volunteers, both here and abroad. The leverage is tremendous.
In addition it should be taken into account that a $750,000 appropriation would only result in a total availability to NAPA of only some $17,000 to support each of the 45 Partnerships.
II. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
The Partners were established by administrative action of AID in 1964 and were intended to be the private sector component of the Alliance for Progress. It was intended that the organization involve individuals and groups in providing technical and development assistance and in developing good relations and people-to-people contacts with Latin America. The Partners have since that time been serving as a mechanism through which private citizens of the United States and Latin America work directly together, not as donor-receivers, but on a people-to-people basis, as "Partners" to improve understanding and cooperation in the Americas, while carrying out specific continuing self-help programs of development.
The Partners were originally operated out of and by AID but in 1970 the Partners became operationally independent of AID even though they continued to receive their funding from AID. Since 1970 the administrative and servicing functions of the Partners have been carried out by the National Association of the Partners of the Alliance, Inc. ("NAPA"), a private organization.
In 1974 the Foreign Assistance Act (P.L. 93-189) in recognition of the difficulties inherent in the private raising of administrative funds, included a line item authorization of $934,000 for each of the fiscal years 1974 and 1975. Pursuant to that authorization an appropriation of $750,000 was granted to NAPA last year in the 1974 Foreign Assistance Appropriation Act (P. L. 93-240).
This year the House Appropriations Bill placed NAPA in the "Selected development problems" category and placed a ceiling on expenditures of $250,000. The Senate Appropriations Bill, however, earmarked $500,000 for NAPA.
III. NUMBER, LOCATION AND COMPOSITION OF PARTNERSHIPS
There are some 45 Partnerships in the United States operating out of 43 of our states. Each of these Partnerships has a counterpart Partnership in Latin America or in the Caribbean. The 45 Latin American and Caribbean Partnerships are with states, countries or regions located in some 18 nations.
It is fairly obvious that the geographical distribution of the Partnerships both in the United States and in Latin America and the Caribbean is broad. There is attached hereto as Appendix A a map showing the affiliations of the various United States Partnerships.
The Partnerships on the United States side are composed of private volunteers although in some instances Federal or state officials and state university officials are involved on a purely voluntary basis. The members include attorneys, physicians, dentists, businessmen, professors, agronomists, public administrators, students, civic club leaders, legislators and just plain ordinary people. They do, however, tend to be leaders in their communities.
The status of the Partners can be seen by the fact that no less than 32 governors of states in the United States are honorary chairmen of their respective Partnership and indeed in many cases are actively engaged in Partnership matters. There are a number of Senators who have previously been active in the Partners.
IV. ACTIVITIES OF THE PARTNERSHIPS
The Partners are engaged and will use the funds provided by AID in the carrying cut of mutual self-help projects in the areas of agriculture, health programs, rehabilitation, education, community development and emergency relief. Aside from the AID funded activities the Partners also carry out cultural exchange, sports and other similar people-to-people activities, utilizing non-AID funds exclusively.
Although the dollars requested are relatively small the programs have far-reaching benefits and results.
For every dollar provided by AID some $15 to $20 in goods and services are contributed by United States citizens. Our Latin American and Caribbean friends contribute additional goods, materials and services so that for every dollar provided by AID the nongovernmental funds provided amount to some $50 to $100. This leverage is incredibly high in comparison with most other programs carried out by the Federal Government.
It is impossible to fit the projects carried out by the individual Partnerships into a mold since each project is specifically developed by the United States and Latin American or Caribbean groups, taking into account the voluntary nature of the program, the particular need of the Latin American or Caribbean areas, and the particular human and material resources available for carrying out each project.
The range of projects include cooperative self-help development programs such as the construction of schools, the improvement of hospitals, the training of medical technicians, the improvement of communications and the like as well as the improvement of agricultural techniques, the improvement of educational methods and systems and many, many others.
There is attached hereto as Appendix B a description of typical projects currently in process or carried out during the past few years. It will be seen that these projects cover a wide range of activities.
The Partners are affiliated with numerous other volunteer organizations and groups in carrying out joint programs. Included among these groups are the Rotary, Lions, Jaycees, American Dental Association, the Boy Scouts and numerous others. Those organizations with which the Partners are affiliated are listed in Appendix C.
In view of the high leverage provided by the Partners and in view of the people-to-people contacts and the development of international understanding achieved by the Partners they become particularly valuable when the resources available for such undertakings shrink.
Indicative of the success of the program and of the high esteem in which it is held by the agencies of the United States Government are the following programs which are either currently underway or have been requested:
(1) Requests for short-term technical assistance from Latin American missions of the U.S. Agency for International Developwent, such as:
(a) training in highway safety procedures for officials of the Brazilian Ministry of Transport, provided by the State Partnership in Louisiana, Illinois, Michigan and Maryland;
(b) training in the care and breeding of rabbits as a high-protein low-cost food for rural Panamanian families, provided by Delaware Partners;
(c) technical services of a geographer to assist in national land-resource conservation and planning in Costa Rica, to be provided by Oregon;
(d) training in solution to problems of mass transit in Sao Paolo, currently being studied by Illinois.
(e) suggestion from the USAID Mission in Brasilia to the Partners that discussion be held concerning the possibility of having the 18-state Partner framework with Brazil serve as the primary vehicle for technical assistance to Brazil after the planned phaseout of AID activities in 1978.
(2) Requests from U.S. Ambassadors in Latin America, such as–
(a) a recent request from Ambassador William Stedman in Bolivia to provide hospital equipment for the Viedma Hospital in La Paz;
(b) a direct request from Ambassador Turner Shelton in Nicaragua to provide emergency aid to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake in 1972;
(3) The regular use of the Partners framework by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the State Department for its international visitor program. Over the past two years more than 200 Latin American leaders from 16 countries have visited their U.S. Partner states through this liaison.
(4) The frequent presentation of community-level projects to the Partners by volunteers of the U.S. Peace Corps, seeking technical and material support from the U.S. Partner state.
Approximately 50 projects per year originate with Peace Corps volunteers.
Aside from the development and technical assistance provided in Latin America and aside from the people-to-people contacts there are also benefits for United States citizens participating in the program, such as unique opportunities for research and study in tropical agriculture and medicine, archaeology, architecture, Spanish and Portuguese, Latin American history, malnutrition, and mental retardation, to name a few. Innovative techniques used in Latin America health and welfare systems have also been applied with great success in several U.S. Partner states.
V. THE REASON FUNDS ARE NEEDED
The funds provided by AID and by the line item are used for the following purposes:
(a) Administrative.
(b) Program Spending.
(c) Travel.
(d) Fund Raising.
As an administrative matter the NAPA office handles and accounts for the Federal funds and for the private funds, other than project funds, provided to the organization. The requirement for central accounting is obvious. In addition, the NAPA central office also controls the expenditures of all travel funds and supervises and administers the provision of staff and other support to NAPA program activities.
On the program side, the NAPA central office provides a clearing house for the location of resources and for the spreading of project ideas. It also maintains communications, providing newsletters, publications, and the like. Its staff includes specialists in a number of areas, including agriculture, health and rehabilitation and others. The staff assists in the training of Partnership volunteers and in the conduct of workshops where interested Partners from the various Partnerships get together and trade ideas (in methods and in the kinds of projects to be undertaken in Latin America and the Caribbean). It also maintains vital links and liaison with other national and international organizations engaged in or interested in the provision of technical assistance, development, assistance and people-to-people contacts in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The most useful purpose served by the funds provided by AID is the provision of travel for volunteers. When an agricultural expert goes to Latin America to assist in the development of an experimental station or when a physician goes there to assist in the establishment of rural clinics, the funds provided by AID are used to pay for air fare and some other travel expenses. It should be noted and emphasized, however, that many, many volunteers travel on their own funds without even this modest assistance. The travel funds are, therefore, the means of moving the technician or specialist to where he can help or to bring the trainee from Latin America or the Caribbean here.
The staff is also active in the important task of endeavoring to raise funds from the private sector. A considerable amount of time and effort is spent in this task.
The justification for the line item in 1974 and for the appropriation pursuant thereto was and continues to be the fact that the private sector of the United States' economy, including individuals, foundations and corporations, are willing to provide support for specific programs and projects but are unwilling to provide administrative and general funds. It is extremely difficult to secure support for administrative costs and for the generalized activities carried out by the NAPA headquarters. There is simply a reluctance to provide money for office workers and nonglamorous undertakings. Corporations are more interested in "impact" projects while foundations are more interested in the type of project where the results are readily visible. NAPA has, of course, had some success in raising funds in the private sector. For example, the Lilly Foundation in 1974 committed some $62,000 to NAPA but even those funds were limited to the provision of staff specialists in the restricted areas of basic agriculture, rehabilitation and health.
The problem described above is highlighted and becomes much more difficult in times such as these where corporate profits are falling, individuals are hoarding their resources and foundations are facing rapidly falling incomes. Particularly at this time, there simply is not the type of money available to support NAPA administrative and travel costs without AID funding.
Without adequate funding it is quite probable that this exceedingly valuable program would disappear except in a very few states. This would occur at the very time that the program is growing. Additional states and countries are requesting admission to the program and the demand for volunteer technicians has doubled over the past year.
A reduction in the funding of the Partners would have a serious impact on several levels. It is important to remember that NAPA leverages every dollar of the Government's investment.
Dramatic examples can be shown of cases where the cost-benefit ratio exceeds 1 to 140 or 150.
On the average over the past several years, for every dollar of U.S. funding there is a U.S. private investment of 10 to 15 dollars. There is also a further increase in benefits from private Latin American contributions, averaging 5 to 6 times the total U.S. benefits not even counting the value of the professional time of the expert volunteer technicians. Thus, on the average, every dollar of U.S. Government investment results in "matching" benefits of $50 to $90. And, of course, conversely for every dollar of reduction, the benefits are reduced by 50 to 90 dollars. This multiplier effect is critical. It means, for example, that a reduction of $100,000 could reduce the benefits of the program by $5 million to $9 million.
VI. FUND RAISING EFFORTS
The criticism has frequently been made that the Partners have not made adequate efforts to raise funds privately. The Partners admit that such efforts in the past have not been as fruitful as would be desired. Nevertheless, the trend is up. To demonstrate the improvement there follows a tabulation showing the private funds (program and administrative) raised by NAPA for each fiscal year since 1970:
[Table omitted]
The largest single administrative item in the tabulation presented above is the $73,633 in administrative funds raised privately in 1974. Of this amount $62,000 represents a single grant by the Lilly Foundation which has as its primary purpose the establishment of staff positions in the fields of nutrition and agriculture, rehabilitation and culture, which positions are intended to stimulate increased activities by the Partners in those areas. All other FY 74 administrative funds shown in the table above are earmarked for administrative support to sports activities and to rehabilitation exchanges.
There have been failures in the past. For example, NAPA endeavored to conduct a direct mail campaign. The results were pitiful. Repeated efforts have been made in the corporate and foundation areas to secure nonearmarked funds. Again, the results have been frequently discouraging. Nevertheless, the trend is definitely up and it is anticipated that the trend will continue upward.
VII. CONTINUING NEED FOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
As demonstrated above, NAPA during the past has made and is continuing to make efforts to raise general funds for administrative purposes as opposed to project funds. To date, however, the funds so raised have been inadequate for the purpose. Every effort will continue to be made in fund raising. There is no assurance, particularly in these hard times, that the organization can raise sufficient funds for non-project purposes so as to be totally independent of AID support by a date certain.
PARTNERS OF THE AMERICAS
WHAT IT IS
An organization committed to fostering a closer relationship and understanding between the people of the United States and the people of Latin America through involvement in self-help projects.
HOW IT WORKS
Through technical assistance programs of economic, social, and cultural development. A "partnership" links a state in the U.S. with a counterpart state, region, or country in Latin America – i.e., Utah-Bolivia, Iowa-Yucatan (Mexico), Maine-Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil). All projects are based on a sharing of skills and on mutual self-help. To build a school, for example, one Partner committee contributes the land and labor, and the other provides the equipment or funds.
ITS MEMBERS ARE
Many thousands of private citizens in the United States and Latin America, including educators, businessmen, physicians, students, housewives, civic leaders, agronomists, and engineers. The governors of 34 states actively support the Partners program. More than 8,400 people visited their Partner areas on project work last year.
KEY AREAS OF INTEREST
Education, public health, agriculture and rural development, rehabilitation, trade and investment, sports, community development, cultural exchange, emergency relief, and tourism.
INVOLVEMENT
Partners of the Americas offers individuals and organizations a specific, continuing geographic focus for development activities in the Partner area in Latin America. More than 80 national and international organizations use the Partners framework. Hundreds of elementary and high schools, 50 cities, and 22 State university systems conduct projects through the Partners.
SUPPORT
Partners activities are supported by foundation and corporate grants, membership dues, tax- deductible contributions, gifts-in-kind, and donated professional services. A US. foreign aid grant supports administrative services and volunteer technician travel. All partnerships are autonomous. The Partners national association functions as a servicing and advisory agency with an administrative budget of approximately four percent of the total program.
PARTNERSHIPS
Eighty-four Partner committees are active today – 41 in the United States and 43 in 18 Latin American countries. Brazil has 18 Partner committees. Several other Latin American countries also have more than one partnership with the U.S.
PROJECTS' DOLLAR VALUE
More than $30 million (1964-74), which includes the value of all equipment, material, and cash contributions, but does not include the professional services donated by Partner technicians. No estimate could measure the value in human relations and mutual understanding created by the Partners.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
Children in the Altiplano region of Bolivia are now attending 60 new schools where there were no schools before. Over 50,000 school children in Utah helped to raise the money to build the schools while learning about Bolivia. The Bolivian Partners and Bolivian government are providing the land, labor, and teachers.
The Wisconsin Partners, in cooperation with the U.S. Jaycees, spearheaded a nationwide relief operation after a destructive earthquake hit Managua, Nicaragua. Gov. Patrick Lucey, honorary chairman of the Wisconsin-Nicaragua Partners, made radio and television appeals for assistance, resulting in more than $1 million in cash and inkind contributions. Air national guard cargo planes made seven flights to Nicaragua to deliver supplies to earthquake refugees.
A 10-day mass exchange of 200 Georgians and 200 Pernambucans via chartered jet provided homestays and project opportunities for a cross-section of people, including physicians, journalists, agronomists, educators, housewives, city engineers, and vocational rehabilitation specialists.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
PREP – Partners Rehabilitation and Education Program, a cooperative venture providing treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and improved services for the mentally, physically, and socially handicapped in 32 U.S. states and 17 Latin countries.
Inter-American Sports Exchange – A two-way educational exchange of sports skills for coaches and players in basketball, soccer, baseball, track, and tennis.
ORGANIZATION ESTABLISHED
1964: Partners of the Alliance.
1966: National Association of the Partners of the Alliance, Inc. (Partners of the Americas). Private, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. Member, Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid of the Agency for International Development. All contributions to Partners of the Americas are tax-deductible.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Partners of the Americas, 2001 S Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009. (202) 3327332.
PARTNERS OF THE AMERICAS
THE PARTNERSHIPS
Alabama-Guatemala.
Arkansas--Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
California-Baja California, Sinaloa, More los, Nayarit and Puebla, Mexico.
Colorado-Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Connecticut-Paraiba, Brazil.
Delaware-Panama.
District of Columbia-Brasilia, Brazil.
Florida-Northern Colombia.
Georgia-Pernambuco, Brazil.
Idaho-Mountain Region, Ecuador.
Illinois-Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Indiana-Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Iowa-Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
Kansas-Paraguay.
Kentucky-Highlands, Ecuador.
Louisiana-El Salvador.
Maine-Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Maryland-Rio de Janeiro (state), Brazil.
Massachusetts-Antioquia, Colombia.
Michigan-Belize (British Honduras) and Dominican Republic.
Minnesota-Uruguay.
Missouri-Para, Brazil.
Nebraska-Piaui, Brazil.
New Hampshire-Ceara, Brazil.
New Jersey-Alagoas, Brazil.
New Mexico-Tabasco and Chiapas, Mexico.
New York (Buffalo-Niagara) -Jamaica.
North Carolina-Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Ohio-Parana, Brazil.
Oklahoma-Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Jalisco, Sonora and Tlaxcala, Mexico.
Oregon-Costa Rica.
Pennsylvania-Bahia, Brazil.
Rhode Island-Sergipe, Brazil.
South Carolina-Cauca Valley, Colombia.
Tennessee-Amazonas, Brazil and Venezuela.
Texas-Peru.
Utah-La Paz and Altiplano, Bolivia.
Vermont-Honduras.
Virginia-Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Washington-Guayas and Los Rios, Ecuador.
West Virginia-Espirito Santo, Brazil.
Wisconsin-Nicaragua.
Wyoming-Goias, Brazil,
COOPERATING INSTITUTIONS
Partners of the Americas expresses its appreciation to the cooperating institutions, organizations, and corporations who supported our work during 1974:
Agriculture, nutrition
Future Farmers of America.
Inter-American Rural Youth Program.
National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
National Council of State Garden Clubs.
National 4-H Foundation.
World Hunger Action Coalition.
Civic and government Action/U.S. Peace Corps.
Agency for International Development.
General Federation of Women's Clubs.
Inter-American Foundation.
Junior Chamber International.
Lions International.
Maine Maritime Academy.
National Governors' Conference.
Operation Handclasp, U.S. Navy.
Rotary International.
U.S. Jaycees.
Cultural and sister cities
American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. U.S. Department of State.
Governmental Affairs Institute.
International Association of Fire Chiefs.
National Council for Community Service to International Visitors (COSERV).
Town Affiliation Association.
U.S. Information Agency.
Education
American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Boy Scouts of America.
CARE, Inc.
Experiment in International Living.
Girl Scouts of America.
Inter-American Commission of Women.
Organization of American States.
International Education Division, Office of Education.
U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Office of Technical Assistance and Scientific Cooperation, Organization of Americas States.
Tools for Freedom. Youth for Understanding.
Health and medical services
American Heart Association.
American Hospital Association, International Division.
American Medical Association, International Division.
Catholic Relief Services, Inc.
Direct Relief Foundation.
Health Services, Mental Health Administration, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Mennonite Central Committee.
Office of International Health, National Institute of Mental Health.
Pan American Development Foundation.
Pan American Health Organization.
Women's Auxiliary of American Medical Association.
Investment and tourism
American Association of Chambers of Commerce of Latin America.
American Institute of Planners.
Council of the Americas.
Inter-American Development Bank.
Rehabilitation and special education American Foundation for the Overseas Blind.
American Psychological Association.
Association for Children with Learning Disabilities.
Council of International Programs for Youth Leaders and Social Workers.
Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Goodwill Industries International.
National Association for Retarded Citizens.
National Association of State Directors of Special Education.
National Rehabilitation Association.
Organization of American States.
People-to-People Committee for the Handicapped.
President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped.
President's Committee on Mental Retardation.
Rehabilitation International and Rehabilitation International U.S.A.
Rehabilitation Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Social and Rehabilitation Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Sports Amateur Athletic Union.
Amateur Softball Association.
A.M.F. Voit Company.
Basketball Federation of the U.S.A.
Braniff International.
Brazilian Basketball Confederation.
Coca-Cola/Latin America.
Converse Rubber Company.
Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Missouri Valley Conference.
National Association of Basketball Coaches.
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
National Collegiate Athletic Association.
National Soccer Coaches Association.
National Wheelchair Basketball Association.
U.S. Baseball Federation, Inc.
U.S. Department of State.
SPONSORS
Partners of the Americas wishes to offer a special tribute to the following sponsors. Without their support our program would not have been possible:
Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of State.
A.M.F. Volt.
Arthur Andersen & Company.
Braniff International.
Brazilian Basketball Confederation.
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Charles Delmar Foundation.
Coca-Cola/Latin America.
Coca-Cola Industries Ltda./Brazil.
Converse Rubber Company.
Inter-American Foundation.
Jack Wolfram Foundation.
Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Missouri Valley Conference.
Organization of American States.
Pan American Development Foundation.
Pan American Health Organization.
Rehabilitation Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Summa Corporation.
PROJECTS OF MAJOR IMPACT CONDUCTED BY THE PARTNERSHIPS IN THE PARTNERS OF THE AMERICAS PROGRAM
The Partners of the Americas program, by generating support from citizens and institutions throughout each state, has had a major impact upon grass-roots agricultural education, health, community development, and disaster relief programs in several Latin American countries over the years with a minimum seed investment provided by the federal government.
Since 1964, the 45 partnerships have conducted approximately 5,700 projects in 18 Latin and Caribbean countries and 43 U.S. states with a total value now exceeding $38 million, a figure that includes only actual out-of-pocket cash expenditures such as airplane tickets, scholarships, 2,700 tons of donated equipment, hospitality costs, etc., and does not include the value of services provided. In the same period of time over 34,000 U.S. and Latin American citizens have traveled to their Partner area on specific project work affecting literally hundreds of thousands of people throughout the hemisphere. Some of these accomplishments are:
BELIZE (BRITISH HONDURAS): MICHIGAN
1. The organization of a nationwide system of 4-H clubs and agricultural extension agencies with technical assistance provided by Michigan Partners and 4-H youth workers, plus the development of a major livestock breeding and demonstration center in Belmopan. This model project has been so successful that it is now being extended to seven other partnerships in the Central American and Caribbean area.
2. Over $300,000 in scholarships have been provided to Belizan students during the past nine (9) years for studies conducted in Michigan, and a program has now begun to assist the national secondary school system with 35 student teachers from Michigan.
BOLIVIA: UTAH
1. The construction of 60 rural elementary schools for 12,000 students on the Bolivian altiplano with funds contributed by 200,000 Utah school children over the past five years, supplemented now by the construction and equipping of 40 medical-dental clinics attached to the schools and a nationwide program of adult literacy and community education now reaching approximately 12,000 Bolivian campesinos per year.
NICARAGUA: WISCONSIN
1. The improvement of the whole rural health delivery system in Nicaragua with resources provided by the University of Wisconsin, plus the increased involvement of Wisconsin medical studies in rural health programs in Wisconsin as a result of training they received in Nicaragua as part of their medical studies.
2. Co-sponsoring a major initiative to in Wisconsin medical students in rural health programs throughout Latin America by conducting in Puerto Cabezas a five-day seminar on rural health, attended by 50 physicians and medical school educators from 13 U.S. states and eight Latin American countries, followed by visits to their respective Partner countries for the U.S. delegates to develop long-range institutional links.
YUCATAN (MEXICO): IOWA
1. The provision of nutritious school breakfasts every day for 50,000 schoolchildren in Merida, thanks to $100,000 worth of dairy processing equipment donated to the National Institute for Children by the Iowa Partners.
2. The continued improvement of corn and sorghum seed to increase yields for 100,000 Yucatecan farmers, through demonstration work done over a four-year period by Iowan agronomists and plant entomologists.
EL SALVADOR: LOUISIANA
1. The construction of a $500,000 intensive care burn unit at the Social Security Hospital in San Salvador, following studies and recommendations made by Louisiana Partner hospital technicians and administrators.
2. The modernization of administrative, record-keeping and grading system in the entire national elementary and secondary school system, plus upgrading of curriculum in vocational training, due to recommendations made to the Ministry of Education by a team of Louisiana educators.
3. Hearing and vision tests administered by a team of Louisiana audiologists and eye specialists to over 2,400 primary school children, plus a structured training program for all of the country's elementary school teachers in ear and vision testing.
RIO GRANDE DO NORTE, BRAZIL: MAINE
1. Educational television programming for 150,000 elementary schoolchildren in northeast Brazil, resulting from a donation of a 15,000 lb. television transmitter by Maine Partners.
VENEZUELA
1. Training in petroleum-related technologies and English for 200 Venezuelan university students in Tennessee in a program arranged by Tennessee Partners and financed by approximately $800,000 in petroleum revenues of the Venezuelan government.
National Association of the Partners of the Alliance, Inc. breakdown of funds received from sources other than AID, Calendar 1974
Funds received for projects:
Government sources $104,750
Private sources $ 95,311
FACTS ABOUT THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND PROGRAM COSTS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE PARTNERS OF THE ALLIANCE, INC.
Administrative and program costs of NAPA have decreased significantly over the past five years as a percentage of total revenues on administration. In FY 1974, NAPA spent only 37.1 % of its total revenues on administration.
During the past three years, NAPA's administrative and program costs have only averaged 6.4 % of the total Partners program, which includes school and hospital construction costs, air travel expenses, scholarships, and other cash contributions.
Over 57% of the costs listed under "administration" in the NAPA budget for CY 1975 are in fact program costs, such as newsletter publication costs, fact sheets, brochures, workshop costs, field visitations, etc.
ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS
Most of the administrative costs are actually "program costs." They include costs of newsletters, program staff, accounting and auditing so necessary to government funding, in addition to office rent, etc. The total staff, including secretaries, of the Partners is only 12 people. This staff services a 45-partnership 18-country network.
Staff support is provided to the states in leadership development and training, fund raising, public relations and promotion, as well as maintaining liaison with over 80 national and local organizations.
As a percentage of total, the administrative or program costs of Partners have actually dropped as the program has grown. As an example, where five years ago administrative costs were 73% of total revenue, this past year they dropped dramatically to only 37%. Partners are making progress.
These program or administrative costs actually support a 45-partnership 18-country network.
When you divide the whole sum of money by the 45 partnerships, the administrative or program costs are right around $9,000 per unit, and that is a pretty inexpensive way to support a major national and international movement as effective as the Partners.
SPORTS AND CULTURAL PROGRAMS
I am pleased to report that these kinds of exchanges are funded entirely from sources other than the Agency for International Development.
Sports and cultural exchanges are an integral part of any people to people program. The value of these kinds of projects is that they help focus attention on other developmental types of needs – such as food, nutrition, and basic health.
Partners now puts the full emphasis on its AID funded program behind projects in health, agriculture, and other basic low-income priorities.
DIRECT MAIL
In an effort to increase membership and more private support for the program, the Partners last summer initiated a direct mail campaign.
Unfortunately, the giving atmosphere in the country was undoubtedly greatly influenced by the economy and the campaign was disappointingly unsuccessful. It was immediately discontinued.
The actual cost of the campaign was $24,000, and revenues were $2,700.
I understand this is not an unusual situation since there were many other organizations attempting similar drives at the same time, and contributions were down all over the country for many different causes.
While the direct mail campaign did not meet expectation, the results of other fundraising efforts in 1974 exceeded the projected target of $250,000 agreed upon between NAPA and AID.
SALARY
This has been a matter of some concern to Senator Inouye who has stated that Alan Rubin's salary is more than the salary of the Mission Director in Saigon. Alan Rubin's salary is $39,600. It has been this figure since May 1973.
The salary does not carry with it the fringes and perquisites which are available to a Mission Director or to a career government employee g., extensive insurance and health benefits, retirement program, use of an automobile, housing allowance, dependent educational subsidies and the like.
The salary matter has been discussed and resolved with AID, subcommittee staff, and in correspondence with Senator Inouye during June 1974.
It would be impossible to recruit qualified and experienced executives from the private sector, if the attitude of the Senator and the subcommittee staff was adopted.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
BICENTENNIAL ADMINISTRATION,
Washington, D.C.
Mr. ALAN A. RUBIN,
President, Partners of the Americas, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. RUBIN: It is my pleasure to inform you that the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration has accorded Official Recognition to the Partners of the Americas Bicentennial Program for its contribution to the national Bicentennial effort. I would further like to congratulate you and all of those who have given their time and energy to the important programs of your organization on the occasion of the Partners of the Americas Tenth Anniversary.
As the Partners enters its second decade and this country prepares to enter its third century, your Bicentennial efforts in the areas of the arts and citizen exchange will play an important role in highlighting the shared cultures of the U.S. and Latin America.. The Bicentennial also provides the opportunity to continue to expand the varied on-going cooperative programs of the many partnerships that underscore the interdependence of the peoples of all countries.
I look forward to continued ARBA-Partners of the Americas cooperation in achieving your goals for the Bicentennial era.
In The Spirit Of '76,
JOHN W. WARNER,
Administrator.
PS. – Please note new address:
American Revolution Bicentennial Administration,
2401 E Street, N. W.,
Washington, D.C. 20276
NATIONAL EMERGENCY COMMITTEE,
June 21, 1974.
Mr. ALAN RUBIN,
President,
National Association Partners of the Americas,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. RUBIN: I wish to thank you on behalf of the Nicaraguan people and on my behalf for the badge which you have given me to honor my endeavor in assisting my countrymen, both in my private and public life. May I add, that anyone else in my place would do the same, so there is really no merit to it, but the generosity of your warm hearts.
The Program "Companeros de las Americas" has made great impact in many Latin American countries, as well as in the United States. Nicaragua acknowledges its merits, for it was due to its positive cooperation that our people on the Atlantic Coast were alleviated during the hurricanes Edith and Irene. The tragedy that befell Managua, in 1972 was another occasion when we experienced the friendly assistance from your organization.
Allow me, therefore, to express my sincere gratitude for such noble cause. I wish to reiterate to you, as President of this Program, the best success possible in benefit of the three Americas, which strengthens the fraternity and unity which already exists between our countries.
Most cordially,
ANASTASIO SOMOZA D.,
President.
EMBAJADA DE NICARAGUA,
Washington, D.C.,
June 7, 1974.
Mr. ALAN A. RUBIN,
President, Partners of Americas,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. RUBIN: Many thanks for your kind letter of May 20, extending your greeting to my Government and me on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Partners of the Americas, and enclosing informative material on the growth of this commendable project, which I have read with great interest.
As you state, the special relationship between Nicaragua and Wisconsin is an example of what Secretary of State Dr. Henry A. Kissinger termed the "Good Partner" concept at its best, inasmuch as it has not only conducted community projects, but Wisconsin has also acted as the "Good Samaritan" and "A Friend in Need" when a tragic earthquake devastated Managua in December of 1972, which has resulted in strong ties of goodwill and mutual understanding between Wisconsin and Nicaragua.
I am in agreement with you that, as this partnership continues to develop, we should meet at a mutually convenient time to discuss future plans. I would therefore suggest that your office kindly contact Mr. Armando J. Calonje, First Secretary of the Embassy, and arrange an appointment in the near future. I appreciate your invitation to have a representative of the Embassy visit your offices at any time, and will be glad to take advantage of your gracious offer as soon as circumstances warrant it.
With the assurance of my high esteem and consideration, I remain,
Sincerely yours,
GUILLERMO SEVILLA SACASA,
Ambassador of Nicaragua.
EMBAJADA DE COSTA RICA,
Washington, D.C.,
July 11, 1974.
Mr. ALAN A. RUBIN,
President, Partners of the Americas,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. RUBIN: I am grateful for the message you sent me on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Partners of the Americas program.
The work that has been accomplished through this program is, indeed, most significant and it represents a genuine contribution towards what is known today as the "Policy of the Good Partner."
I agree with you wholeheartedly that the relationship Costa Rica has established with the State of Oregon has been most profitable and successful, particularly as a means of bringing about strong personal ties of goodwill and mutual understanding between our peoples.
Let me express my warm congratulations and best wishes for the continued success of the program.
Sincerely,
MARCO ANTONIO LOPEZ,
Ambassador.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, DC.,
November 12, 1974.
Mr. CHARLES ROEMER II,
Chairman, Partners of the Americas,
State Capitol Building,
Baton Rouge, La.
DEAR MR. ROEMER: On the occasion of your Partners of the Americas Board meeting, I wish to extend my best wishes both for a fruitful conference and for another successful year. I have had the privilege of working with the Partners in a number of your programs during the past year and have been much impressed by your progress.
Those of us on the official side of U.S. diplomacy are grateful for the commitment of private groups contributing to U.S. foreign relations and therefore were most pleased that following Secretary Kissinger's announcement this spring of a new dialogue with Latin America, the Partners responded in several important ways. The real substance of this initiative is the ongoing interaction between the peoples of United States and Latin America. The Partners has demonstrated great ability to harness the capacity for commitment of the American people and engage them and their voluntary organizations in meaningful people-to-people relationships with counterparts of Latin America.
While I have not had the opportunity to meet personally all the members of your Board of Directors, I have become aware through Mr. Alan Rubin and his staff of how fortunate the Partners is to have such a dedicated leadership group. I might add that it also has been a pleasure for us here in the Department of State to cooperate with Mr. Rubin and his colleagues in carrying out several Partners programs. They have been doing an outstanding job of which I am sure you and your Board are proud. In addition to the technical assistance which has been so important, the Partners of the Americas has carried out academic, professional, sports, cultural, rehabilitation, and many other two-way exchange programs.
I have come to admire the approach of the Partners in engaging other American organizations and individuals within the partnership framework; it is an outstanding example of promoting, in the best sense, international mutual understanding so important to all of us in an increasingly interdependent world.
With all good wishes,
Sincerely,
ALAN A. REICH,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs.
PENNYWISE PARTNERS
(By Gary J. Neeleman)
SAN AGUSTIN, BOLIVIA.– "When you return to Utah, Senor Neeleman, please tell the Utah children how much we love them." The old peasant's liquid brown eyes were steady, and his large, rough hands held my hand tightly as he spoke.
In the courtyard in front of the bright pink, adobe brick school, the local band was still playing the haunting, rhythmic music of the Andean plain, and villagers were still dancing and passing around colored popcorn balls. As we stood visiting, village elders would pass by, stop and sprinkle handfuls of confetti in our hair, wrap curling strands of serpentine around our necks, and then give us a traditional Bolivian embrace.
This was a big day for the people of San Agustin. At long last, they were inaugurating a school for their 300 illiterate children. And, at the same time, they were honoring those who made that school possible. They were honoring the school children of Utah who had provided key funding which made the school a reality, and they were grateful. In the solemn meeting that preceded the merrymaking, village leaders spoke of their deep gratitude "to the children across the sea who had loved us enough to want to help us."
This unusual example of people-to-people diplomacy has its roots in a hemispheric organization of volunteers called "Partners of the Americas." Utah and Bolivia form one of 43 partnerships between States in the United States and 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Founded in 1964 as the people-to-people component of the Alliance for Progress, Partners of the Americas works to build understanding on both sides of the border through self-help projects in health, education, agriculture, rehabilitation, community development, emergency relief, and cultural exchanges.
Building schools is nothing new to some 50,000 Utah children. Over the past 5 years they have helped Bolivians of the Altiplano region build 60 schools, and there seems to be no end in sight. The partnership plans to build 200 schools over a 10-year period, but they are currently running well ahead of schedule.
The beauty of this program is that it seems to be a true partnership. The Utahans know they can't do it all, and the Bolivians, with an annual income of around $10 a year in this area, know they need help. So they work together.
The Utah school formula is surprisingly simple, which probably accounts for its great success among the normally suspicious campesinos. If help is to come from Utah, the village must be willing to provide land for the construction, all building materials, and all the labor. In the case of San Agustin, every man, woman, and child in the village was assigned 65 adobe bricks. In less than 90 days, they had produced 26,000 bricks for their two-story school. In addition, they hand-removed over 30 tons of earth from the donated land to level the construction site. They cleared a 5-mile road through the forest so building materials could be delivered. And they organized a band.
The story of San Agustin is typical. While Bolivian villagers work to keep their end of their bargain, Utah school children are also on the move. They organize cake-walks and auctions. They gather and sell thousands of pounds of old newspapers, cans, and bottles. They cut lawns and shovel snow and pledge personal weekly allowances.
The average Utah school contribution is around $700. This relatively small but well-managed sum usually nets a $10,000 school. As a further token of their gratitude, the Bolivians name the new school after the Utah counterpart. Therefore, there is Rosslyn Heights School in Cocotani, American Fork Junior High in Sancajahiura, and Windsor School in Hualta Grande, Bolivia.
In Bolivia, the effect is obvious. Word travels across the country by the time-tried method of person-to-person communication. The rumbling Chola trucks, stacked with commuting campesinos, spread the word from the green depths of the tropical Yungas to the wind-swept plains of the 13,000-foot Altiplano. More and more villages are asking to join the program.
In La Paz, the effort does not go unnoticed. One local newspaper, Presencia, recently editorialized:
"The help of the students and citizens of Utah that comes to Bolivia without conditions, except that the Bolivians help themselves, is indeed significant. With the members of a given community contributing labor and other kinds of work and materials, we have a union of near perfect cooperation between two communities with the same purpose. Utah and the rural centers of Bolivia are partners in the same objective – a desire to give our children a school if they do not have one.
"Decisions like the one the people of Utah have taken give us an accurate picture of the North American people that sometimes, without understanding, can be twisted. When help like this comes under these conditions, one can have more faith in man and his feelings of cooperating with his neighbor. This help becomes an evangelistic thought which cries that the conscience cannot be at peace when one is aware of the needs of other people."
Bolivia's influential Ultima Hora in La Paz said:
"Our purpose here is to give a modest and fleeting vision of the state of Utah, where children save their pennies so other children may have the opportunity to learn their first letters. This we may call an alphabet of generosity. In behalf of three thousand children of Bolivia, somebody must thank the Utah children. Thanks, again, for the rural schools for the Bolivian children."
Utahans are quick to point out the project is not one-way. They too feel they benefit. Imagine a situation where, after 9 months of continuous effort, a young sixth grader stands before a packed gymnasium and presents the Utah School Committee a check for $1,400 while young voices sing "Let There Be Peace on Earth and Let It Begin With Me." As one proud and pleased father put it, "my son had lost all interest in school until they started the Bolivian project. Now we couldn't keep him home if we wanted to."
Reaction from teachers and faculty is much the same. "Children either contribute to solutions to problems or they create problems," said one enthusiastic school principal. "With all that energy, there is no middle ground, and this project does more to motivate young people than anything I have seen in all my years in education."
With the building program booming, school committee co-chairmen Ted Wilson and Fern Wiser are now turning to instructional problems. "There is still so much to do," they say, "and this is just the beginning."
Although the Utah-Bolivia school program is among the most active projects, it is by no means the whole picture.
Through the cooperation of Western Dental Supply and Rocky Mountain Dental Supply, both in Salt Lake City, Utah dentists have organized and equipped 12 regional dental centers in Bolivia. More than 30,000 children have been treated in these centers in the past 4 years. For Dr. Richard D. Christensen, dental committee chairman, better dental hygiene and care for the Bolivian campesinos has become an obsession. This program is also based on the self-help concept.
Dr. Christensen visited Bolivia a few years ago with his wife. They were tourists, but the Utah dentists took time to visit some of the villages of the Altiplano where he examined the mouths and teeth of dozens of campesino children. Dentists are unheard-of in these back areas of the Altiplano. Dr. Christensen was so moved by what he saw that he returned home with a determination to do something about it. He has.
The Utah dental committee has gathered over $50,000 worth of used, but functional, dental equipment. After the equipment is installed, Bolivian dentists in La Paz pledge their support and, through a program developed by the partnership, contribute time each month to one or more of the centers.
"The combined Utah-Bolivia effort has enabled us to help our people," said Dr. Feliz Alipaz, chairman of the dental committee in La Paz.
Nearly 15 tons of equipment have been moved to land-bound Bolivia by the Utah Partners over the past 4 years. Technical advisers provided by Western Dental Supply have done most of the installations, but they are now teaching the Bolivians to do it. Utah dentists make frequent trips to Bolivia to conduct clinics and formulate future programs with their counterpart committees.
There is also new activity in the medical area. Utah orthopedic surgeon Dr. Glen Momberger said, "For the first time in my life, I had a glimpse of what the Savior must have felt as He looked over the sick and needy, knowing how much needed to be done, and realizing only He could do the job." Orthopedic surgeons in Utah are now involved in equipping the orthopedic wing of the Children's Hospital in La Paz. Working through the Bolivian Partners Chairman Dr. Hugo Palazzi, the Utah doctors plan to help develop an extensive program in orthopedics.
The tough, mountain farmers of Utah are also making their contribution to the partnership. A team of agricultural specialists from Utah State University in Logan, Utah, is currently based in La Paz under a U.S. A.I.D. contract. This team has joined the Partner effort on a volunteer basis, and has been responsible for everything accomplished in the area of agriculture.
Another project now under way, with great future possibilities, is the Utah-Bolivia "College of the Compesinos." This complex, costing over $8,000 contributed by a single donor in Utah, will be the first school of its kind in the area. Its construction and ultimate operation will be on the same basis as the other schools. Land for the facility was contributed, and the multiple-structured complex is being built by the campesinos in the region.
Utahans are now in the process of developing a unique study program by dusting off Utah State University agricultural books from the turn of the century, which deal with many of the problems facing the Bolivian campesino today. In addition, agricultural organizations in Utah are studying ways and means to supply the school with needed equipment, including seeds. If this project is successful in its pilot form, others will be planned for other areas of the Altiplano. As one Utah farmer put it, "In this program, our only limitation is our imagination."
Probably among the most successful projects produced by the partnership was the 1971 visit to Bolivia by the Utah Symphony Orchestra. During that time Bolivia was experiencing serious economic and political unrest. Following the visit, Bolivia's Partner Chairman Mario Benavides wrote to Utah: "The Utah Symphony became the symbol of the many things we believed in and were fighting for – freedom of expression, free enterprise, justice ... freedom from fear." He said:
"The Utah Symphony was a representative of your democracy ... In those dark days, the effort gave life to our organization, and when President Torrez arrived at the concert, we felt that something had already been accomplished. But when the orchestra played the Bolivian national anthem so beautifully, there were many that cried silently for our country, but at the same time, new energies were given to continue the silent struggle." Proceeds from the symphony performance in La Paz were contributed to the school fund.
One of the group's more challenging projects involves the cooperative building of a closed and open educational television system. The closed-circuit system is to operate within Bolivia's nine universities. The open system will cover most of the Altiplano with the help of a small transmitter system.
The project is moving. The Bolivian Council of Higher Education has bought much of the necessary closed-circuit equipment, and the Utahans have located a 25kw black-and-white transmitter which they hope to ship down in the near future. September marks the opening of a school fund-raising campaign to send "Sesame Street" to Bolivia as part of the open system program. Naturally, the Popular TV program has been adapted to Bolivia. The "Send Big Bird to Bolivia" campaign will be carried out by many of the same children involved in the school building project.
Utah universities have been approached by the Partners to grant access to their large video-tape libraries, which could expand the instructional base of the university system by as much as 20 percent at practically no cost. The Bolivians will provide the tapes. The Utahans will provide the technical assistance for recording the master tapes, and the subject matter.
Wind-current studies are now under way on the Altiplano to determine the feasibility of windmill generators to power the television sets in each school. "It's a rare opportunity when a little State like ours can help determine the direction of education in another nation," said one Utah educational TV specialist.
In recent weeks, the Utah-Bolivia Partners made the national press with the "Nixon twins" episode. When the President visited Bolivia in 1958 as the Vice President, he held 3-year-old twin girls in his arms and promised that someday they would receive an education in the United States. With the help of Partners, the mother of Ruth and Judith Leonardini didn't let the President forget his promise.
Choosing Utah over 27 other full scholarship offers, the twins, now 18, arrived in Provo, Utah, in mid-June to begin that promised education at Brigham Young University. Their first exposure to the United States was a stopover in Los Angeles, where they saw the Lion-Country Safari and Disneyland, among other things.
It was a dazzling first 24 hours for the young Bolivian girls, who had never been more than 50 miles from their home in the rarefied atmosphere of the Bolivian High Plain. After seeing their first freeway, their first lion and elephant, and shaking hands with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, the twins were asked what had impressed them most in this first glimpse of the United States. Both were quick to respond. "The people of Utah," said Judith. "Yes," said Ruth, "you Utahans who have made all this possible for us."
FRIENDSHIP FIRST
Advisory Commission member David R. Derge, President of Southern Illinois University, led a delegation of two collegiate basketball teams on a visit to the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) in June. They were accompanied by Alfred Harding, P.R.C. program officer in CU, and others. The delegation was there at the invitation of the all China Sports Federation and was part of the U.S.-P.R.C. agreement announced by Dr. Henry Kissinger on February 22, 1973. Derge is shown here in a meeting with Chiang-Ching, wife of Chairman Mao. Here are a few of Derge's comments on the trip.
"Chinese banners proclaiming 'Friendship First, Competition Second' well described the tone and outcome of the U.S. basketball teams' visit to the P.R.C. Coach Gene Bartow's men's collegiate all stars won over the Chinese, running up an 8-0 record, while the Chinese women won over our John F. Kennedy College Patriettes (Wahoo, Nebraska). The spirit was excellent on both sides and the Chinese people clearly enjoyed the games.
"The pace of U.S.-P.R.C. exchanges continues to please and surprise those who have long advocated opening educational and cultural doors to and from that country. What we saw and heard was both encouraging and cautioning.
"All Chinese we came into contact with were genuinely interested in learning about us and justifiably proud of what they have to share. The distance between our ideological poles was not narrowed perhaps, but open exchanges of views cleared the air. The opportunity to discuss (sometimes nearly debate) changes and achievements of the past quarter century may go a long way toward dispelling the darkness of that period.
"There are hundreds of hopeful visitors for every visa issued to the P.R.C. and facilities problems lie behind much of this problem. Ground and air transport, hotel space, and other facilities for large numbers of foreigners simply are not there and likely will not be as extensive as Western facilities for a long time. We also must remember that the P.R.C. also has thousands of visitors from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
"Language barriers are naturally more severe than in other parts of the world. So U.S. college and high school educators should anticipate a heavy demand for Chinese-speaking businessmen, government officials, and scholars and add the Chinese language to the curriculum soon.
"Finally, Chinese universities are making progress after years of being shut down during the cultural revolution. Those we visited were operating at about 20 percent of capacity, and had no graduate programs restored as yet. Political concerns still predominate in both admissions and curriculum. Hopefully exchanges of students and scholars will not be far off. Now is the time for American educators to press their Chinese counterparts for early negotiations and pilot exchanges, so we can accelerate the program once the doors are more fully opened."
[From the Journal of Rehabilitation, September-October 1974]
PREP – REHABILITATION MEANS GOOD NEIGHBORS
(By John E. Jordan)
A fundamental issue confronting all nations of the world today is the necessity to deal with the increasing percentage of persons who are handicapped or disadvantaged.
Since World War II the number of such people in Latin America, including the Caribbean area, has increased from perhaps 10% prior to World War II to a current conservative estimate of almost 20%. Some research indicates that disability/handicap may reach 30 to 40 percent in some developing areas of the world due to nutritional deficits and its complex interrelationships with cultural and educational aspects of particular nation states. The figure of 20% is approximately the same as those given by the U.S. Office of Education for the numbers of handicapped and disadvantaged people in the United States.
However, the United States "acquired" its disabled population through the 300-year history of its existence with concurrent programs to at least partially provide for education and vocational rehabilitation.
Since World War II, the percentage of handicapped people in the developing nations of the world have increased dramatically, due primarily to the increase in medical and public health services in these nations. In other words, the sciences of medicine, public health, and pharmacology have increased the numbers of handicapped people in developing nations through identification and life saving practices. This population is now numerically significant, but often economically nonproductive. The developing nations are increasingly becoming aware that they can no longer afford to add another 20 % non-productive segment of their citizens to an economy which is already "in difficulty."
The educator, the educational planner, and the politician or government official are increasingly aware that something must be done about the problems of handicapped and disadvantaged people. It is also becoming increasingly evident that this is one of the few areas in which there are almost no politically adverse reasons preventing cross-cultural or international cooperation. This is especially so when the private sector and voluntary efforts are used to work toward the application of knowledge to the problems of people.
PARTNERS FORMED
The Partners Rehabilitation and Education Program (PREP) is a project of the Partners of the Americas. In August 1961, the Alliance for Progress was formed to work in the total hemisphere on social and economic development. It soon became apparent that the Alliance (which was a government-to-government operation), while necessary, was not sufficient since it left out the private sector with its own unique and compelling motivations. In 1964, the Partners organization was formed to aggregate the local, state-level, non-federal governmental resources in support of the social and economic development of the hemisphere. In short, the primary objectives of the Alliance for Progress and the Partners are essentially the same, although approaching the task from rather different viewpoints; one emphasizes government-to-government and the other, people-to-people.
The Partners of the Americas is now the nation's largest people-to-people program with Latin America, linking 41 of the United States with 18 Latin nations in state-country/state "partnerships" (i.e., Kansas-Paraguay, Delaware-Panama, Michigan-Belize and the Dominican Republic). Partners work in all fields of development – agriculture, health, education, cultural arts, and sports. The combined value of their projects between 1964 and 1974 exceeded $34 million.
PREP began as a formalized Partners project in the Michigan-Belize (British Honduras) Partnership in 1966. Between 1966 and November 1968, the Belize-Michigan PREP Program, in cooperation with the government of Belize, was instrumental in building the first school for mentally retarded people in the history of the nation of Belize. They furnished this building, held several conferences in Belize concerned with aspects of disability, provided scholarship training in the United States, and provided in-service training for local people "on-site" in Belize.
CONFERENCE HELD AT M.S.U.
In November 1968, a conference was held at Michigan State University by the Partners of 10 states (Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas) to investigate developing a national program based on the PREP model between Michigan and Belize. All of these original ten states have sent people to visit with their counterpart professional in their respective Latin American Partner locations. Of the 43 Partnerships that exist in 1974, more than half have been active in PREP, and more than 38 are now involved to some extent.
In summary, PREP started in 1966 in Michigan, expanded to a ten-state operation between 1968 and 1970, and in January 1970 was approved by the executive committee of the Partners to be developed in all the Partnerships; which in 1974 number 43.
OBJECTIVES OF PREP
The basic objective of PREP is the application of knowledge to the personal problems of people – in this specific instance to the problems of people with handicapping conditions.
PREP proposes to implement the principles of the "application of knowledge to the personal problems of people" by the following five avenues : (1) human resource development through institutional development, (2) consultation services, (3) direct services, (4) research, and (5) public education.
Private sector resources
The greatest potential of PREP rests in its ability to aggregate the private sector resources for human resource development or training. PREP has thus far demonstrated that it can locate within the Partnerships, both U.S. and Latin, those highly trained professional people who are "willing" to work on a voluntary basis in their own professional specialties to develop resources and train people in Latin America. PREP has also demonstrated that it can achieve scholarship training opportunities in the respective U.S. Partner states for persons from Latin America in the areas of blindness, and deafness, as well as for other handicapping conditions. These scholarship opportunities, both short and long term, can be obtained through the voluntary sector with no governmental and/or private foundation support needed except travel funds from the respective Latin American states to their United States counterpart state.
The second way in which PREP proposes to apply present knowledge to the personal problems of people is through consultation services. Various disability groups are represented.
The third area is through the provision of supplies and services such as teaching materials and equipment for blind, deaf, and emotionally disturbed people. Minimal emphasis is placed upon providing capital outlay for buildings. PREP thus far has attempted to work in the medical area in each of the states by coordinating its activities with the medical committee, which usually exists as a separate committee within the Partners operation in each state.
A place for research
The fourth emphasis of PREP is in the area of research. By this is implied both applied and basic research, chosen cooperatively by the respective PREP committees in the individual Partnerships.
Studies concerning the incidence of disabilities in certain countries, public attitudes toward rehabilitation, the education of handicapped children, and factors affecting employment of the handicapped are some of the research areas that have been undertaken by PREP.
The fifth major concern of PREP is public education. In several countries PREP has been instrumental in developing a national mental health week, a national day for the handicapped, and other public forums for presenting the cause of handicapped people. Public education has been conducted through in-service training of professionals in the field of disability and through short term training for regular teachers. Such a service was conducted for 700 regular teachers in Belize on the care of the handicapped child in the regular classroom.
PREP aspires to serve as a "facilitator" between persons, organizations, and/or resources in specific disability or handicapping areas. In other words, the Partners and PREP, by virtue of the 41-state organizational structure, are in the unique position of being able to aggregate the local state-level voluntary people-to-people resources in each of the handicapping or disability areas.
For example, the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education Inc. are now involved at the state level with PREP and at the national level in activities such as the symposium on "Partners in Rehabilitation," which is held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. In 1973, the Symposium had 52 delegates from 13 Latin nations and 14 of the United States, and in 1974, 260 delegates came from 16 nations, 38 states, and 36 national, international, and federal agencies, dealing with handicapped individuals.
PREP, through cooperation with each of the disability areas, can help these organizations to achieve their international objectives in Latin America. It is common knowledge that most of the disability areas – such as mental retardation and blindness, have various kinds of international programs and/or aspirations. Service clubs are internationally known for their work with the disabled; for example, the Lions Clubs are known for their work with the blind and the Rotary Clubs for their work with physically disabled people.
Another aim of PREP is to achieve international cooperation throughout the Americas by the establishment of colleagueship or international cooperation in the professional areas. It is the contention of PREP that cross-national and/or cross-cultural boundaries have little meaning to those who are linked by a common bond such as the parents of mentally retarded people, teachers of the blind, or Lions Club members interested in helping the cause of the blind.
In summary, the three primary objectives of PREP are : (1) the application of knowledge to the personal problems of people, (2) the facilitation of specific disability program interests, and (3) the development of international cooperation and/or colleagueship in specific disability areas such as mental retardation, blindness, deafness, and the physical disabilities.
ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE OF PREP
The national Partners association appoints the national director of PREP. Funding operations are administered by the Partners office in Washington since PREP is an integral program of the Partners. The national office also maintains secretarial and other staff services. The national director is a voluntary, non-paid position.
PERSONNEL OF PREP
The primary staff resources rest in the voluntary personnel of the 43 Partnerships. PREP operates in each Partnership via a committee. The committee structure in each of the Partnerships is left to the discretion of the Partnerships, with the provision that each director, both U.S. and Latin, be strongly urged to at least appoint a person in the Partnership to be the coordinator of the PREP operation. An ideal U.S. PREP Committee "should" include the state directors of vocational rehabilitation and special education, or their designates, a representative from the Governor's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, a handicapped person, and someone from a university training program in rehabilitation or special education. Individual Partnerships may add other people according to their own circumstances.
The above rather informal organizational approach is consonant with the basic philosophy of the Partners: It is people! The basic philosophy is to locate within each state in the United States and in each of the Latin American Partnerships those persons who are "dedicated to the cause of the disabled or handicapped" and use the organizational structure of PREP to allow people to realize their own professional program interests. The outcomes of PREP, thus, far, indicate that this does indeed work.
SUMMARY – ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF PREP
The following 21 summary statements represent areas of accomplishments of PREP. Each of these areas could be magnified many times, and the total dollar value, if the professional time of the U.S. and Latin professionals were included, would actually amount to several million dollars since PREP started in 1966.
Training Seminars – A number of "on-site" seminars have been conducted in Belize, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Brasilia, Brazil, Pernambuco, Brazil, and several other Latin Partnerships. Last year over 700 Latin specialists were trained in these seminars.
Formal Training – A number of Partnerships have offered formal training, from a few weeks to a full university degree, undergraduate and graduate, in various areas of special education and rehabilitation.
The Costa Rica Department of Special Education – The University of Costa Rica, in cooperation with the Costa Rica-Oregon Partnership program, has initiated a fully based university degree program in special education.
Ministry of Education Development – PREP has been instrumental in working with a number of the Latin Partnerships in developing and expanding the staff and functions of the special education area within the regular national Ministries of Education.
Public Awareness – The PREP activities, both in the United States and in Latin America, have created added public awareness of disability problems as well as awareness of the general problems and concerns of the Americas.
In-Service Training – Many examples of in-service training have been carried by PREP. An orthopedic team from Louisiana annually goes to El Salvador and actually conducts operations, e.g., illustrating the procedures of immediate post-surgical fitting of prostheses, which enable walking within 24 hours rather than spending weeks in bed as previously practiced. Over 130 PREP specialists conducted related kinds of training activities in their Partner countries last year.
Consultation – Consultation in many aspects of building design, curriculum construction, and diagnostic procedures has been provided. One of the outstanding ones was that of Dr. Leona Tyler, immediate past president of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Tyler served as a consultant to the University of Costa Rica and related agencies in developing new approaches to psychological curricula within the university including those training programs affecting handicapped people.
Direct Services to Children and Adults – A number of specific situations involving orthopedic operations, prostheses, and hearing aids are examples of direct services to children that have been provided within the PREP framework.
National Mental Health Week – The activities of PREP, particularly in Belize, were partially responsible for the development of a National Mental Health Week in Belize.
Inter-American Colleagueship – PREP has been instrumental in developing close and lasting ties between professionals in all aspects of special education and rehabilitation in many of the Partnerships.
Research – PREP has been involved in research in limited areas such as prevalence and incidence of disability and public attitudes or awareness of the needs of handicapped and employer attitudes affecting employment.
U.S. Professional Recognition – PREP has been able to enlist and/or inspire cooperation from major U.S. professional groups. The recognition and cooperation of these groups provides the back-up professional staff that become the State level cadre of personnel of the many PREP projects carried out in the various partnerships.
U.S. Professional Awakening – One of the benefits of PREP to the United States is the awareness that "we have no corner on knowledge." Research and demonstration projects on the relationships between nutrition and intelligence, population problems and disability, and poverty and handicap are often examples of new frontiers to the North American partner as he works with his Latin partner. The U.S. partner often gains, in the cross-cultural setting, new insight into sub-cultural rehabilitation problems that, in the words of one U.S. agency administrator "ten years of university training had not taught him."
International Agency Cooperation – PREP is increasingly being contacted and/or receiving requests from International Agencies such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Cooperation between PREP and these international agencies has a multiplying effect, both for PREP and the agencies.
Formation of National Councils – PREP has been instrumental in certain countries, such as Costa Rica, in working with local groups to assist in the development of a National Council for the Welfare of the Handicapped which includes most of the agencies dealing with handicapped people in that nation.
Private Foundation Support – PREP, illustrating the Harry Reasoner ABC radio comment about the Partners that "It's nice to see a good idea work," has been able to recently achieve financial backing from the Lilly Foundation. This will enable PREP to professionalize its central office staff which will enable better coordination with the national voluntary professional staff personnel.
Relationships Between Disability and Economic Development – PREP is vividly illustrating the necessity for the developing nations, such as Latin America, to recognize the urgency to do something for the increasing numbers of handicapped persons who now live in these nations with the potential of becoming an economic liability. PREP emphasizes not only the medical "restoration" of the disabled but the educational preparation and vocational placement for self-reliance and economic productivity of handicapped persons.
A World Model – PREP, because of its direct service and people-to-people emphasis, is increasingly becoming a world model of cooperation between professional groups. Other U.S. voluntary agencies are examining the possibility of attempting to set up similar models of cooperation between their own disability interest areas and other geographic regions of the world based on the same principles of PREP. The educational publication of UNESCO, Prospects, is scheduled to carry an article in 1975 discussing PREP as a model of people-to-people development principles in the developing nations.
[From the Athol (Mass.) News, Jan. 8, 1975]
ARTISTS FROM LATIN AMERICA SHARE CULTURE THROUGH EXCHANGE PROGRAM
WASHINGTON.– Out in Iowa, a Mexican performer with an Irish brogue is drawing enthusiastic audiences with poetry recitations, lectures and guitar concerts.
Down in Kentucky, a woodcarver from Ecuador is demonstrating and conducting workshops in a craft which has declined over the years – the rich tradition kept alive by isolated artists like himself.
Up in Maine, a Brazilian poet and composer of operatic, religious and folk music is giving performances, accompanied by his wife on the flute.
And in Ohio, another Brazilian, a folk dancer, is instructing and participating in theater and the dance at a Cleveland community arts center known as Karamu House.
Fernando Marrufo, poet, lecturer, guitarist; Jorge Rivadeneira Almeida, woodcarver; Robert Lima de Souza, poet, composer; and Julia Pereira de Mello, folk dancer, are among the Latin American artists who have started to come to this country through the Artist-In-Residence program.
Begun this year, the program is sponsored by the Partners of the Americas people-to-people organization and supported by funds from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department.
The Artist-In-Residence program is providing an opportunity for gifted Latin Americans to share their native cultures by teaching, performing and lecturing in small towns as well as big cities.
The program is designed to build a greater mutual understanding and communication between the cultures of Latin America and our country, explains Alan Rubin, president of the Partners of the Americas.
Through that organization, 41 U.S. states maintain direct, highly personal working relationships with 43 Latin American states or areas in 18 countries.
And through this relationship people are helping other people raise their quality of life with programs in public health and medicine, education, agriculture and sports, as well as the cultural exchange, Rubin points out.
Selection of the artist is made by the Latin American Partner state. The U.S. Partner state then follows by arranging with a university or college in its state to provide the three month's residency for the artist.
Outlets for the artist's talents include not only the campus but the community as well.
Augusta College in Georgia was the first of the schools to serve as an artist's residence. Joao Batista de Querios, a Brazilian from the state of Pernambuco, conducted the school's first course in sculpture and helped design the college's first studio for sculpture.
Partners plans to extend participation to more states, to provide a broader mix of artists' skills, and to expand the program, with artists visiting more than one state.
Beginning next year, U.S. artists will be visiting Latin America under a Partners of the Americas program which complements the Artist-In-Residence program.
The "Sharing American Folklore" program, as it has been named, will seek greater mutual understanding and communication. It, too, is being made possible through a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the State Department.
The program will cover a broad range of talents. Among them: folk singers, craftsmen, modern dancers, barber-shop quartets, spiritual or soul groups, square-dancers, choral groups, bluegrass artists, marching bands, members of Indian tribes performing traditional dances and folk art teachers.
"Sharing American Folklore" also hopes to stimulate and involve private citizens in the broader problems of health, education, nutrition, rehabilitation and adequate social services by means of cross-cultural exchange, and share the creative spirit and cultural heritage of Partners states with the Partner country as part of the Bicentennial celebration, Rubin says.
[From the Williamsport (Pa.) Grit, June 9, 1974]
AID PROGRAM IN LATIN AMERICA PRAISED FOR ITS ACHIEVEMENTS
Concerned citizens in Wisconsin are helping rebuild a Latin-American city ravaged by an earthquake. In Utah more than 50,000 students have come up with money to help build schools in Bolivia.
It's all part of work done by an organization called Partners of the Americas. It involves persons in 41 states of the U. S. working with others in 43 Latin-American states in 18 countries. Its purpose is to improve the quality of life in the hemisphere.
OFFERS OUTLET
Partners – a nonprofit, nonpolitical, volunteer organization – offers an outlet for persons who want to do more than donate money for some worthwhile cause.
"To some people, Partners represents an opportunity for short-term international service," said David Luria, an associate director. "Besides wanting to become involved in aid programs, most people just can't take off two years to join the Peace Corps."
Among members of the organization are educators, businessmen, physicians, students, housewives, civic leaders, agronomists, engineers, and governors.
The students in Utah helped raise money to build 55 Bolivian schools. Land, labor, some of the materials, and teachers are being provided in Bolivia.
The same cooperative setup is used in other Partners projects, including one involving persons in Wisconsin. The Wisconsinites, including Governor Patrick J. Lucey, are raising money to help restructure the health service and mental health delivery system of Managua, Nicaragua, which was devastated by an earthquake more than a year ago.
EFFECTS BENEFICIAL
"No other voluntary program is having a greater impact on the lives of so many people in so many countries at so small of a cost," said Oslo Plaza, secretary general of the Organization of American States.
Partners projects are in the fields of public health and medicine, education, agriculture and rural development, rehabilitation, trade and investment, sports, community development, cultural exchange, and emergency relief. One unusual project seeks to preserve the famed Mayan ruins at Copan, Honduras.
PARTNERS OF THE AMERICAS ELECT OFFICERS
Partners of the Americas, formerly Partners of the Alliance for Progress, Illinois-Sao Paulo Group, met at the National Club On Jan. 9 to elect officers and committees for the coming year.
The organization's objectives are to further good relations between Brazil and the USA, and in particular between the States of Illinois and Sao Paulo, through arts, sciences, education and sports.
Officers elected were president, Jorge P. Correa; 1st vice pres., Hello Martins de Oliveria; 2nd vice pres., Paulo Suplicy; 1st secretary, Per Hom, 2nd secretary, Maria Antonia Cowles; 1st treasurer, Jaroslav Dedina; 2nd treasurer, Frances Van De Putte. Directors are: Joao Paulo Camassa, J. V. Rui Barbosa, Cirley M. Colangelo, Michael Mary Nolan, and Jose F. S. de Araujo is for present of Partners.
The new Board Of Trustees is headed by president, Jubert Fonseca. Other officers include 1st vice president, Paulo da Rocha Camargo; 2nd vice president, Ricardo Veronesi; 1st secretary, J. V. Rui Barbosa; and 2nd secretary, Gilberto S. Telles.
The various committees are headed by Joao Paulo Camassa, Jose Francisco Scares de Araujo, Paulo Nathaniel P. Souza, Paulo C. Suplicy, J. A. Cesar Salgado, Hello Martins de Oliveira, J. V. Rui Barbosa, and Jean Cohn.
The Partners has worked on health problems, especially in the field of rehabilitation. They have cooperated with the HOPE project. Their work in sports included sending soccer coaches to Illinois. And recently in December, they sponsored "Brazil Week" in Chicago, during which they staged style shows and art exhibitions, and climaxed the "Week" by bringing Maestro Camargo Guarniery, Brazilian conductor and composer, to conduct the Chicago Symphony.
[From the Hilo (Hawaii) Tribune-Herald, Mar. 14, 1975]
EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS
This month an Organization called Partners of the Americas observes its 10th anniversary.
Founded in 1964 as a means by which private citizens in the United States and Latin America could act directly together to help one another raise the quality of life, Partners of the Americas now has committees in 41 U.S. states working with 43 counterparts in 18 Latin American nations in projects involving education, public health, agriculture, sports and cultural exchange, emergency relief and much else.
– More than 50,000 Utah school children, for example, have helped to build over 50 schools to date in Bolivia's Altiplano region where there were no schools before. The Bolivian Partners and Bolivian government are providing the land, labor and teachers.
– Iowans have introduced new techniques in agriculture, livestock and poultry raising in Yucatan that are expected to have multimillion-dollar impact on that region's economy.
– Wisconsin Partners are helping to rebuild Managua, Nicaragua, and restructuring its health care system following that city's devastating earthquake.
All told, the 43 partnerships in 1972-73 conducted 57 programs totaling $6.4 million in value, exchanging 3,444 people and shipping 589 tons of equipment and supplies to Latin America.
Worth noting is that for every dollar provided by the federal government through the Agency for International Development, the partnerships produced $13 in self-financed travel, donated equipment and supplies, scholarships, disaster relief and other cash contributions.
Summing it up, "We're what you might call an adult Peace Corps," says David Luria, an associated director of Partners. "A lot of people would like to be involved in aid programs, but they just can't take off two years to join the Peace Corps. They might be able to take off a few weeks or a month, however. And that's what Partners offers."
It may well be that the people-to-people philosophy and programs of Partners of the Americas will turn out to be the most effective way of bringing the nations of the Americas closer together.
[From the Denver Post, Feb. 5, 1975]
YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAM: LAMM ENTERTAINS BRAZILIAN VISITORS
The visit of a pretty Brazilian girl and a political reporter from that country gave Gov. Dick Lamm a chance to let his mind stray Tuesday from the business of running Colorado to his 1963 honeymoon in South America.
Paying a call on the governor were Rosangela Cialdini, whose uncle is governor of Minas Gerais, Colorado's sister state in Brazil, and Milton Lucas de Paula, also from Minas Gerais.
Miss Cialdini is one of five young adults from Brazil currently in Colorado on a youth exchange program sponsored by the Lions Clubs International.
GO TO FLORIDA
She is staying with the Clyde Clayburn family of Wheat Ridge until later this month, when she and the four other visitors will go to Florida for a one-week stay at Disney World.
De Paula is on a tour of the United States as part of the International Visitor Program of the U.S. State Department.
Lamm said he hadn't been to Minas Gerais, which has been Colorado's sister state since 1966 under a Partners Of the Americas program, but he told his Brazilian visitors and their escorts his fond memories of South America.
"What a big, beautiful country," he said of Brazil. "I'll never forget it. I'd love to go back."
Lamm called Brazil "a country much like ours" in its diversity and searched his mind for names of some of the places on the Lamm honeymoon itinerary a dozen years ago.
Miss Cialdini, 19, presented the governor with a large white aquamarine stone from Minas Gerais, and she and de Paula urged him to visit their state and its capital city, Belo Horizonte.
As an advocate of land-use planning and environmental concerns, Lamm might enjoy that. Belo Horizonte is Portuguese for "beautiful horizon."
[From the Council Bluffs (Iowa) Nonpareil, Mar. 15, 1974]
PARTNERS MAKE GOOD NEIGHBORS
(By Don Oakley)
This month an organization called Partners of the Americas observes its 10th anniversary.
Founded in 1964 as a means by which private citizens in the United States and Latin America could act directly together to help one another raise the quality of life, Partners of the Americas now has committees in 41 U.S. states working with 43 counterparts in 18 Latin American nations in projects involving education, public health, agriculture, sports and cultural exchange, emergency relief and much else.
More than 50,000 Utah school children, for example, have helped to build over 50 schools to date in Bolivia's Altiplano region where there were no schools before. The Bolivian Partners and Bolivian government are providing the land, labor and teachers.
Iowans have introduced new techniques in agriculture, livestock and poultry raising in Yucatan that are expected to have multimillion-dollar impact on that region's economy.
Wisconsin Partners are helping to rebuild Managua, Nicaragua, and restructuring its health-care system following that city's devastating earthquake.
All told, the 43 partnerships in 1972-73 conducted 557 programs totaling $6.4 million in value, exchanging 3,444 people and shipping 589 tons of equipment and supplies to Latin America.
Worth noting is that for every dollar provided by the federal government through the Agency for International Development, the partnerships produced $13 in self-financed travel, donated equipment and supplies, scholarships, disaster relief and other cash contributions.
Summing it up, "We're what you might call an adult Peace Corps," says David Luria, an associate director of Partners. "A lot of people would like to be involved in aid programs, but they just can't take off two years to join the Peace Corps. They might be able to take off a few weeks or a month, however. And that's what Partners offers."
It may well be that the people-to-people philosophy and programs of Partners of the Americas will turn out to be the most effective way of bringing the nations of the Americas closer together.
[From the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Journal, Dec. 10, 1974]
WELCOME, PARTNERS
Oklahoma's University Medical Center will be hosting for the next several days between 30 and 40 senior medical students from the University of Chihuahua as part of a volunteer cultural, social and technical exchange program that is strengthening ties between the United States and Latin America.
The group of visitors, composed of both young men and women, will attend lectures at the University Medical Center and in their space time see the sights of the city.
They have also expressed a desire to "meet the Oklahoma Big Red Football Team" and to see some "cowboys and Indians."
John E. Kirkpatrick has volunteered to conduct them on a tour of the Cowboy Hall of Fame and before leaving the state they will stay at one of Oklahoma's lodges in western Oklahoma.
Here is a program that gives scope to the aims and ideals we feel best expressed in our part of the country.
It is an organization of individual citizens who place emphasis on the importance of private initiative as the basic tool by which the United States and Latin America can work together for economic and social self-help.
In eight years of existence, Partners of the Americas has grown to 42 partnerships between 40 U.S. states, including the District of Columbia and 42 states or areas in 18 Latin American, Central American, Caribbean countries and Mexico.
Non-profit, volunteer committees meet frequently to develop programs of technical assistance in economic, medical, educational, agricultural and social development fields. The projects are as diverse as the needs of the people: supplies for hospitals; emergency relief for a polio-stricken village; marketing advice for native handicrafts; student, teacher, doctor, dentist and nurse exchanges; farm equipment and supplies for a rural community.
The partner concept of mutual cooperation between the peoples of the Americas has proven its effectiveness with a project value in dollars of more than $20 million and a value in human relations that is unmeasurable.
Oklahoma Partners of the Americas are associated with the Mexican states of Tlaxcala, Colima, Coahuila, Sonora and Chihuahua.
Medical and dental teams of doctors and dentists have conducted seminar, performed services and exchanged ideas with their Mexican counterparts in Tlaxcala and Chihuahua.
Cultural and social exchanges have been conducted with the states of Tlaxcala and Colima where students, teachers and entire families from both countries have participated.
School equipment has been furnished to the state of Coahuila and an assisting project is now underway to add a new classroom to a school for underprivileged children in the city of Villa Acuna.
The Oklahoma Partners have helped sponsor western type rodeos in the states of Colima and Tlaxcala using Oklahoma cowboys. The Mexican states have reciprocated by sending charros, mariachi musicians and a Ballet Folklorico from the University of Colima to Oklahoma.
One of the larger projects has been assisting in the construction and equipping a hospital in Agua Prieta, Sonora.
Now, for the first time, a trip has been worked out for Chihuahua University medical students to hear lectures at the University Medical Center and to tour the city for purely social and cultural purposes.
We extend a hearty welcome to our partners from south of the border and hope their stay here will be a rewarding one.
[From the Brazil Herald, July 4, 1974]
'PARTNERS' EXCHANGE HEALTH CARE, CULTURE AND EDUCATION
BRASILIA.– With the Partners of the Americas program celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, 18 Brazilian states from as far as Rio Grande do Sul to Amazonas have partners in the United States.
First of the Brazilian-U.S. partnerships was established in November, 1964, between the states of Maryland and Rio de Janeiro.
The partners committees agreed that the best way to accomplish the goals of the program would be the exchange of people; immediate plans got under way for the implementation of the Maryland-State of Rio Student Exchange Program.
Involvement of the students in knowing their Partners on a first-hand basis has inspired many of them to take leadership roles in their Maryland high schools to raise money for Partners projects. These funds have helped build 10 schools in Niteroi, capital of the State of Rio.
In January, 1965, the second Brazilian partnership was initiated between the northeastern state of Alagoas and the state of New Jersey. During the initial visit of New Jersey business and professional men to Alagoas, requests for school and hospital equipment were received. With the assistance of Rotary, Lions, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and Humble Oil and Refining Company, 32 tons of school desks, hospital beds and other equipment were quickly rehabilitated and sent to schools and hospitals in Alagoas.
The following years saw the establishment of 16 more partnerships in Brazil, the most recent being that of New Hampshire and Ceari.
Others are Amazonas-Tennessee; Bahia-Pennsylvania; Brasilia-National Capital Area; Espirito Santo-West Virginia; Golas-Wyoming; Minas Gerais-Colorado; Para-Missouri; Paraiba- Connecticut; Parana-Ohio; Pernambuco-Georgia; Rio Grande do Norte-Maine; Rio Grande do Sul-Indiana; Santa Catarina-Virginia; Sao Paulo-Illinois; Sergipe-Rhode Island.
Each state is a member of the Brazilian Association of the Partners of the Americas presided over by Dr. Darcy Mesquite da Silva at the Edificio Carloca in Brasilia.
U.S. president is Alan A. Rubin, with headquarters in Washington. President Richard M. Nixon is honorary chairman.
Projects of special interest currently under way in the 18 Partnerships include the following examples.
EDUCATION
Partners in Maine delivered 1,200 school desks to Rio Grande do Norte on board the State of Maine Maritime Academy Training Ship, manned by 400 Maine cadets.
Universities and colleges in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, and Colorado have established Brazilian studies programs with faculty from their Brazilian states.
The Colorado School of Mines maintains an active exchange of technical information and professional expertise with the Faculty of Mines at the University of Minas Gerais.
An RCA TT 5 television transmitter acquired by the Maine Partners has been installed at the University of Rio Grande do Norte for use in educational TV programming for rural elementary schools throughout the state.
Education specialists from Pennsylvania have conducted teaching seminars at the Federal University at Bahia.
A Maine high school teacher has written a text book on Rio Grande do Norte for use in the fifth and sixth grades in the Maine school system.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Illinois Jaycees and the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs participate in a drug abuse education program conducted for high school students in Sao Paulo;
Rehabilitation specialists from Georgia University have given seminars on special education techniques to 400 teachers of the handicapped in Recife;
The executive director of Goodwill Industries in central Ohio assisted local welfare authorities in Curitiba, Parana, in establishing a similar industry for the handicapped;
The University of Denver provides scholarships each year for six special education teachers from Minas Gerais.
HEALTH
Over 150 tons of hospital equipment are shipped each year by the 18 states that have Partners in Brazil. New Jersey's recent shipment of 25 tons of equipment included 170 hospitals beds. Maine Partners shipped $300,000 worth of medical supplies on board the State of Maine and recently purchased a new respirator for a hospital in Natal. Wyoming Partners obtained an iron lung for Goias.
Ten leading dental educators from Virginia and West Virginia conducted seminars on the latest techniques of dental surgery, orthodontics, and periodontal care for 630 Brazilian dentists at the universities of Florianopolis and Parana.
Hospitals in Connecticut each year provide six residencies for doctors from Paraiba.
A team of medical students and physicians from the University of Maryland Medical School assisted local authorities in the state of Rio de Janeiro in a mass immunization campaign on the outskirts of Niteroi.
Maine and Rio Grande do Norte Partners have provided supporting services to the HOPE Ship before and during her nine-month stay in Natal.
Partners assist in medical emergencies in Brazil on a regular basis. Recently the doctor of a girl in Fortaleza suffering from a rare fungal infection known as torulosis, was connected with a top infectious disease specialist at the National Institute of Health via a Partners amateur radio hook-up.
CULTURAL AND STUDENT EXCHANGE
Approximately 200 students of high school and college age participate each year in student exchanges conducted by the 18 Partnerships in Brazil.
Maryland conducts an annual summertime exchange of 40 students, and then asks its returned students to participate in a "Partners for Peace" program, raising money upon their return home to build rural elementary schools in Niteroi.
Ohio's program, now in its fifth year, brings 40 Parana students to Miami University and the University of Cincinnati each year, and sends 15 college students to the University of Parana.
Rhode Island Partners prepared a $20,000 film on Sergipe which is shown regularly on television stations throughout Rhode Island.
A Venezuela University choral society, Scola Cantorum, performed throughout the state of Tennessee and received the highest critical acclaim.
Paintings by prominent artists in the state of Goias are on display at the Governor's Mansion in Wyoming.
Fifteen hundred pieces of art work done by Rhode Island school children are on display at schools in Sergipe.
Bates College each year plays host to an artist-in-residence from Rio Grande do Norte. Recent participants from Natal have been a woodcarver, a guitarist, a pianist, and a soprano, playing, teaching, and lecturing throughout the state of Maine.
A curator from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., helped the officials of the Brasilia Zoo establish a North American wing.
Brazilian Partners each year assist the American Institute of Planners in arranging a tour of Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and other cities for groups of architects and urban planners.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Connecticut Jaycees are raising money to construct a 12 room school in rural community of Itaporanga, Paraiba;
Pennsylvania Partners, with assistance from Atlantic Richfield, have contributed $2,000 to the construction of a community center in Alagadoas, Bahia, and have sent a generator to the community of Cansancao.
Indian Partners and Jaycees obtained $31,400 in materials and supplies for rural community centers in Rio Grande do Sul.
An entomologist from the University of New Hampshire is assisting the state of Ceara in the eradication of the sauva ant.
Pennsylvania farmers contributed 4 Cheviot sheep to an agricultural breeding station near Salvador, Bahia. The sheep were delivered courtesy of the Brazilian Air Force.
The Wyoming Dept. of Agriculture is assisting the state of Goias in control of the berne warble fly which seriously affects the crops in that central Brazilian state.
A 4-H'ERS VIEW
(By Susan Wasserman)
Life as a YDP (member of the 4-H Youth Development Project) can be rather frustrating at times – like when questions are fired in a rapid Spanish-Guarani mixture and you feel you've been doing well with one new language, not to even mention the second. Or you have worked hard preparing a 4-C meeting and finally get there despite being stuck once and having to push the truck out – and no one shows up at the meeting. Then comes the day a young 4-C member brings a recipe to a meeting and asps, "If we bring everything we need, can we make this next time?" Or the homemaker whose fogon (stove) has just been completed for the first time and has a stove where more than one pot can be cooking at the same time. Other feelings leave as you share their happiness.
As a 1973 and 1974 YDP I spent 16 months in Latin America, 2 months in Costa Rica and 14 in Paraguay. Spanish classes for several hours a day, followed by more technical training in Latin living such as gardening and cooking, were five-day-a-week activities for the 15 of us in Spanish-speaking countries. Learning didn't stop there because we lived with Costa Rican families and had opportunities to participate in their daily lives.
While in Paraguay I worked with two young Paraguayan women who are home economists. Much of their time is spent with girls' 4-C club projects. In Paraguay boys and girls clubs meet separately and are usually organized as project clubs.
Through the Inter-American Rural Program office in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant, YDPs are able to work with their counterparts on various projects which include greater production and use of corn and soybeans and the building of stoves.
In the southern part of Paraguay where I lived, a good acreage of soybeans are raised each year but they have been sold as a cash crop rather than used as food by most families. Soybean recipes have been compiled by the Paraguayan Extension Service so these were used at 4-C meetings and public cooking classes. As a finale to soybean cookery my counterpart, Antonia, 4-C socias, Rotary ladies, and I held a Soybean Exposition for the townspeople of San Ignacio. Each member brought one food that she had prepared from soybeans to be displayed, and what a variety we had from soybean coffee, to cookies, to soup and soybean cheese made of soy milk.
A national campaign to build brick, wood burning stoves was underway in Paraguay while I was there. This stove was being built as an improvement over the campfire type of cooking facilities still in use in many campo homes. Through the fogon project, 4-H'ers and individuals in other interested groups are able to get involved in international 4-H. Contributions from these groups are used to buy iron stove-tops and chimneys which are given to families to use. They provide the bricks for the stove, and as they are able to repay for the tops and chimneys, $1 for $1, the money is put into a revolving fund to build more stoves. With $30 or $35 a Paraguayan campo family can have a greatly improved cookstove.
A former Reno County 4-H'er, Cheryl Blank, is now in Paraguay as a YDP and will be there until August, 1975. Cheryl is also involved with the stoves and writes that the project is going well and plans are being made to start a latrine project. I'm sure Cheryl would appreciate any financial support or letters from interested 4-H'ers.
PARTNERS OF THE AMERICAS: LINKING KANSAS TO PARAGUAY
(By Nancy Granovsky)
Mention Paraguay and many Kansans will stop, think, and say, "Paraguay. It's a small country in South America, isn't it?" Of course this is true, but mention Paraguay to some other Kansans and they will say, "Of course ... Paraguay and Kansas share a special partnership."
What is the partnership and what makes it so special? Few Americans know that the Partners of the Americas, brain-child of President John F. Kennedy, was established to set up a people-to- people involvement between the citizens of this country and Latin America. Today 41 states are linked with 43 partner committees in 18 Latin American countries. The partnerships are committed to fostering a closer relationship and understanding between people through involvement in self-help projects in the areas of education, public health, agriculture and rural development, rehabilitation, trade and investment, sports, community development, cultural exchange, emergency relief, and tourism. Through the partners framework, private citizens can carry on person-to-person foreign aid.
Kansas became the 34th state to form a partnership by choosing Paraguay as her "sister state" in 1968. The two share several striking similarities: both Kansas and Paraguay are land-locked; both depend heavily on an agricultural economy – Paraguay has great potential for growing wheat and both Paraguay and Kansas are major cattle producing areas; both have almost the same number of people; and Paraguay is a reflection of our own earlier pioneer times with much unexplored terrain and untapped potential. The Kansas Partnership was founded by volunteer, bi-partisan representatives from all walks of life. Activities are carried out in conjunction with a counterpart committee in Asuncion.
During 1973 alone, more than a quarter million dollars was spent supporting Kansas-Paraguay people-to-people exchanges and activities. Some of these activities were:
A Paraguayan official observed water conservation and irrigation projects in Kansas.
Farm equipment was donated to a Paraguayan agricultural school by the Hesston Corporation.
A Kansas 4-H'er spent a year coordinating 4-H work in Paraguay.
A special music education program was developed in Paraguay as a result of Kansas assistance.
Kansas Rotary Clubs raised funds to provide school supplies and scholarship funds for Paraguayan elementary school children.
Hospital supplies including 20,000 pair of eyeglasses, antibiotics, and medical equipment were shipped to Paraguay.
Paraguayan specialists visited mental health centers and rehabilitation institutions for the blind in Kansas and a Kansas partner helped equip and train the staff of a new rehabilitation center for the blind in Asuncion.
Paraguayan partners visited the Hutchinson State Fair to observe prize-winning livestock, produce and grain; gardening and farm machinery; 4-H exhibits; and home economics displays.
An art exchange program between school children in Kansas and Paraguay is being initiated.
In 1975, Kansas will host an artist-in-residence, the well-known Paraguayan guitarist, Sila Godoy, who will spend three months performing throughout the state.
Expansion of partner cities will be encouraged. At present, Topeka-Asuncion, Newton-Sapucai, and Hays-Santa Maria have been paired. As Kansans' awareness of the partnership expands so may the number of partner cities. The importance of agriculture, nutrition, and youth activities are being emphasized by the National Association of the Partners. An entomologist and a youth specialist, partnership members from Kansas State University, have already initiated projects in Paraguay.
How can Kansas 4-H'ers become an important link in the partnership? Through involvement!
Here are some ideas for starters:
Form partner clubs-4-H to 4-C (4-C is the Paraguayan version of the 4-H movement).
Adopt a special 4-H club project to inform the people of your community about Paraguay and the partnership.
Encourage your community to become a partner city.
Learn something about the people and customs of Paraguay; sponsor special programs highlighting Kansans' experiences in Paraguay.
Help the Kansas-Paraguay Partnership Committee grow by becoming an active member of the group.
For more information about the partnership, contact:
Mrs. Francine Neubauer, Executive Secretary, Governor's Committee on the Partnership Program, Room 407, Mills Building, 109 West 9th Street, Topeka, Kansas.
For more information about how 4-H members can become involved, contact:
Mrs. Marjorie Area, Extension Specialist, 4-H and Youth, Umberger Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506.
Through your awareness and interest, you can help inform Kansans so more will be able to say, "Paraguay? Of course. Paraguay and Kansas share a special partnership and I’m an involved partner."
Mr. MUSKIE. I know that the distinguished floor manager of the bill is a supporter of this program, and has been of assistance last year and this year.
What my proposal would do is simply allow the association to continue operating its program at the same level as last year, with no allowance for the inflated cost of doing business. It will permit the Partners to meet the increasing demands from the partnerships for specialized regional workshops in agricultural, health services, and vocational training, to develop at least two new partnerships for States and countries not as yet involved, to meet the rising costs of volunteer technician travel, and to provide proper management, fund raising, and promotional service to committees in 43 States and 18 countries. This important segment of our total aid program needs and deserves continued Federal support.
With the encouragement and guidance they receive from the Agency for International Development, the Partners are working hard to meet the development priorities of the Americas.
One of their approaches to the problem of insufficient agricultural production has been to change traditional agricultural methods by working through rural youth.
In Belize, for example, Michigan 4-H and agricultural extension workers have been working for 3 years to build a nationwide network of 4-H clubs linked directly with clubs in Michigan in order to share the latest techniques of rabbit farming as a low-cost, high-protein food, of vegetable gardening, of livestock and poultry production. The model has been so successful in Belize that it is now being extended to seven other partnerships in the Caribbean and Central American area. It has also been expanded to include other rural youth organizations such as the Future Farmers of America.
The Partners are also focusing their attention upon improved health services, especially in the rural areas of Latin America. Recently they launched a major drive to involve the great medical schools and outstanding State public health services of our country in this process by convening the first Partners Inter-American Seminar on Rural Health in Nicaragua, attended by 50 physicians, medical school educators, and public health personnel from 13 States and 8 countries of Central America, Panama, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela. Following 5 days of intensive discussion of the priorities of rural communities and a review of the University of Wisconsin Medical School project for its senior year medical students in Puerto Cabezas, the U. S. delegates proceeded on to their respective Latin Partner countries for immediate project work and to make contacts leading to long-term institutional linkages.
Ignorance and illiteracy continue to plague the hemisphere due to inadequate educational facilities. With enthusiasm and resourcefulness Partners in Maine sought to alleviate this problem in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, several years ago by acquiring, free of charge, a fully operable $90,000 television transmitter for the educational television network being established in northeast Brazil. The 15,000-pound unit was transported to Portland by the Maine Trucker's Association, flown to Washington, D.C., by the Maine Air National Guard, and then on to Natal by the Brazilian Air Force. It now serves 150,000 elementary schoolchildren with educational programs.
Similarly, because they saw a need and wanted to help, the Partners in Iowa obtained $100,000 worth of dairy processing equipment and shipped it to Merida, Yucatan, where it is now producing nutritious school breakfasts every day for 50,000 schoolchildren. Partners in Florida and Wisconsin have shipped whole fire engines to rural communities in Colombia and Nicaragua, respectively. Partners in Kansas have shipped 35,000 pairs of eyeglasses to Paraguay, Partners in Delaware have shipped 38 pairs of breeding rabbits to rural health centers in Panama, and three 60-bed emergency field hospitals have been delivered to the Dominican Republic by Michigan Partners.
It is estimated that handicapping conditions affect approximately 20 percent of the population of the Americas, and the Partners have also undertaken to meet this challenge through the Partners rehabilitation and special education program, PREP. For the past 2 years, audiologists and vision specialists from Louisiana have been conducting hearing and vision tests among schoolchildren throughout El Salvador, testing as many as 1,200 students a week while training their teachers to conduct the tests for other students. Working closely with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and the Social Security Institute, the Louisiana team has set up structured programs for the prevention of blindness.
Our official diplomatic corps also works hard to strengthen these State-country partnerships, because it makes their own job easier. Recently, for example, Ambassador Philip Sanchez traveled from his post in Honduras to thank the people of Vermont for the outstanding role they had played following the Hurricane Fifi disaster in September 1974. On his way home to El Salvador from Washington, Ambassador John Campbell met with Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, spoke to the State legislature and addressed a luncheon of 60 prominent businessmen in New Orleans.
Mr. President, our Nation is approaching its 200th birthday. I can think of no better way to celebrate our Bicentennial than to share with our closest neighbors and friends in Latin America the vast reserves of technical skills our own citizens have acquired over the past 200 years, without strings attached and without bureaucracy. We can do this through the Partners of the Americas.
As Harry Reasoner of ABC News said of the Partners program, "It's nice to see a good idea work." My amendment seeks to keep that good idea alive.