The University of Georgia
Universidad Veracruzana

	Georgia is ill-equipped to meet the needs of Hispanic residents who often speak little or no English.

Mexico and the United States share more than just a border—they share populations. Each year, many Mexicans come north, and over half a million Americans currently reside in Mexico. Migration brings challenges. States such as Georgia, whose Hispanic population has doubled in less than a decade are ill-equipped to meet the needs of Hispanic residents who often speak little or no English and who face other difficulties in adjusting to a new culture. Other issues such as a lack of access to quality education, health resources, and nutrition information, which have long plagued Mexico, pose similar challenges in Atlanta.

With the help of funding recently awarded by the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO), through a cooperative agreement with USAID, a higher education partnership between the Universidad Veracruzana (UV) in Mexico and the University of Georgia (UGA) hopes to address some of the social and economic challenges facing both Veracruz, Mexico, and the state of Georgia.

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	• Project Web site

The Institution Partnership builds on an existing six-year linkage between the universities which has included educational exchanges and visits to investigate potential programs for the Mexican university. USAID officials in Mexico remarked that the new program builds on the solid experiences of the linkage and "will hopefully benefit both countries even more by addressing mutually shared social and economic problems."

According to ALO Director Joan M. Claffey, higher education partnerships are a cost-efficient and effective form of development. For example, in addition to the benefits of building on an existing relationship, the initial investment from ALO/USAID of $91,899 will be compounded by over a 200% match in funds from UGA, UV, and other sources toward a total estimated $317,661. "ALO looks for ways to leverage opportunities to build strong partnerships," said Dr. Claffey. "The UGA/UV Institutional Partnership is just such an example."

In 1996, only six social workers in Georgia spoke Spanish (and all were located in Atlanta). According to a 1997 U.S. Department of Education study, one-third of all Hispanic students in the U.S. fail to finish school. Although Hispanics make up 56 percent of U.S. immigrants, they account for 90 percent of all immigrant dropouts. The UGA/UV partnership plans to increase the number of bilingual and culturally competent social workers, education professionals, and students in Georgia and in Veracruz. The universities plan to establish a UGA-UV Center in Veracruz to facilitate activities, create a Web site in Spanish and English, institute professional development workshops for Veracruz and Georgia teachers and social workers, and implement a visiting professor program.

A democratic, stable, and prosperous Mexico is vital to U.S. political and economic security. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, exports of capital goods were drastically affected by the economic crisis that unfolded in Mexico in January 1995. The recent growth of agriculture reliant on Latino migrant labor, the rise of Georgia as a center of manufacturing and export, and the role of Atlanta as a gateway to Latin America have increasingly linked Georgia to Latin America, especially Mexico.

Future benefits of the UGA/UV program should include a significantly increased number of education and social work professionals in Georgia who speak Spanish and are prepared to work with Hispanic students and a similar increase in the number of graduates in Mexico with a stronger educational foundation for addressing development issues in their country. Perhaps most promising, the ALO/USAID-sponsored program may serve as a model partnership for other institutions in both countries—an example of replicable, sustainable development work.