Coca-Cola Foundation Funds New Higher Education Partnerships in Environmental Sciences
The White House, U.S. Department of State, Partners of the Americas, and NAFSA: Association of International Educators announced the Innovation Fund grant winners of the Coca-Cola Foundation-sponsored competition of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund. This Innovation Fund grant competition focused on creating new study abroad programs between the United States and Latin America in the field of environmental science, with an emphasis on water. These Innovation Fund 
grant winners were announced during the opening reception of the Partners of the Americas’ Convention in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The goal of 100,000 Strong in the Americas, President Obama’s signature education initiative in the Western Hemisphere is to facilitate new partnerships between higher education institutions to increase student mobility throughout the Americas to bring the number of U.S. students studying in the Western Hemisphere to 100,000 and bring 100,000 students from the Western Hemisphere to study in the United States on an annual basis by 2020. The goals of the initiative are to enhance hemispheric competitiveness, stimulate regional education cooperation, and prepare students to be more globally competent for the 21st century workforce.
“Water quality and quantity issues are global issues. This grant will allow students from both institutions to visit an academic institution at a foreign country to learn the importance of water resources issues facing these countries,” said Mario Castaneda, faculty with the Water Resources Technology program at GateWay Community College. “We are committed to helping develop global citizens and this award helps students receive global experience related to water and environmental sciences.”
The 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund Award will help establish a bidirectional study abroad program between GateWay Community College and the University of Guanajuato which will allow students at both institutions to receive classroom instruction, hands-on lab experience, local water excursions, industry presentations and tours, contextualized language instruction and attend cultural events. In total, more than 20 students combine are estimated to participate in this initiative.
This is the second grant competition supported by the Coca-Cola Foundation. This Innovation Fund grant competition was open to higher education institutions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and the United States which promote study abroad programs in the field of Environmental Sciences, with an emphasis on water. The winning institutions will create new innovative partnerships that will increase student mobility to and from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States; provide technical training; and prepare students to be more globally competent for the 21st workforce.
The Innovation Fund grant awards facilitate new institutional partnerships between higher education institutions throughout the Americas. The Innovation Fund awards are $25,000 each and will leverage commitments from winning college and university teams to increase student mobility, provide training in various academic fields, and provide students with unique opportunities to participate in study abroad programs. It is expected that over 115 students will study abroad as a result of the eight awards given.