U.S. Department of State

Small Grants: Huge Impact

About the Author: Roberta S. Jacobson serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Small grants: huge impact. That was the recurring theme of an inspiring event Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer hosted earlier this week at the Department of State. As part of the WEAmericas initiative to support economic empowerment for women-owned businesses in the Western Hemisphere, we announced 25 small grants for organizations in 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as two regional projects. The Walmart Foundation and the Secretary of State’s International Fund for Women and Girls sponsored the grants.

We… more »

Photo of the Week: Increasing Women’s Economic Participation in the Americas

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Colombian Vice Foreign Minister Patti Londono sign a memorandum of understanding on the Small Business Network of the Americas on the sidelines of the Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas ministerial in Cali, Colombia, October 23, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Hannah Johnson serves as an Assistant Editor for DipNote.

Our “Photo of the Week” shows Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Colombian Vice Foreign Minister Patti Londono signing a memorandum of understanding on the Small Business Network of the Americas in Cali, Colombia, October 23, 2012.

Deputy Secretary Burns and Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere AffairsRoberta Jacobson traveled to Cali for the fifth Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas ministerial. The government of Colombia hosted the event, attended by high-level government officials, policy makers, business leaders, academics, and representatives from international organizations throughout the… more »

Conversations With America: The Hemispheric Agenda—Democracy, Prosperity, and Social Inclusion

Conversations With America -- The Hemispheric Agenda: Democracy, Prosperity, and Social Inclusion [State Department image/ Public Domain]

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson will hold a conversation with Diana Villiers Negroponte, Senior Fellow, Latin America Initiative, Brookings Institution and Michael Shifter, President, Inter-American Dialogue, on the U.S. government’s foreign policy agenda in the Western Hemisphere. The discussion will be moderated by Cheryl Benton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, and will… more »

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta A. Jacobson delivers remarks on recent travel to Central America and the Western Hemisphere Affairs agenda at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, D.C. on July 11, 2012. A text transcript can be found at http://fpc.state.gov/194826.htm.

Global Recovery: A View From the Americas

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson delivers remarks at the 42nd Conference on the Americas at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., May 8, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Roberta Jacobson serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Economic recovery, at home, in Europe, across the globe, seems to be on everyone’s minds these days. In the United States, the engine to power our economic recovery is fueled by human and physical resources right here in our own hemisphere. No one knows this better than the Council of the Americas. Since its founding in 1965, the Council’s approximately 200 members account for a large percentage of U.S. investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their investment is linked by a shared belief that free markets and private enterprise, coupled with strong democratic governance, offer the most effective means to achieve regional economic growth and prosperity.

Yesterday, when we addressed the Council at their annual conference,… more »