Washington, DC, September 15, 2011 -- Roberto E. Canino (standing, right), International Ambassador to Latin America & the Caribbean for League of United Latin American Citizens addresses Administrator Fugate and summit participants.

Earlier this month in Washington we hosted the second annual FEMA Latino Leadership Summit. The summit brought top Latino leaders from around the country together with FEMA officials to talk about how we can build stronger partnerships and create more resilient, better prepared communities nationwide. Leaders from government, private sector, academia and faith-based and nonprofit organizations brainstormed new and innovative approaches to emergency management.

We talked about the importance of the family unit and teaching children how to react during disasters, reviewed past responses and talked about ways that organizations can formalize their partnerships with FEMA.

One of the highlights of the summit was an historic moment: we formally established a new partnership between the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and FEMA. It’s the first higher education organization to enter into a memorandum of agreement with FEMA and we hope that it will help to further develop the next generation of leaders in emergency management.


Washington, DC, September 15, 2011 -- Dr. Antonio Flores (left), President and chief executive officer of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities shake hands with FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate after signing the historic memorandum of understanding, the agency's first higher education collaboration.

A few examples of what this will mean going forward:

• FEMA and HACU will develop innovative ways to educate students and faculty regarding emergency management issues, including having FEMA subject matter experts serve as visiting professors in courses related to emergency management.
• HACU and their member institutions will promote FEMA and Department of Homeland Security student opportunities to their thousands of students, and participate in FEMA conferences and events.
• HACU and FEMA will each designate three members of their organizations to form a leadership committee charged with fostering the partnership and implementing the tasks within the memorandum of agreement.

The partnership with HACU is a great example of the whole community approach to emergency management. We thank everyone who attended the summit and the signing ceremony and we look forward to keeping the collaboration moving forward.