Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Virtual

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Hello, everyone! I am so thrilled that USAID is once again gathering some of our nation’s brightest and most globally-minded students for our second Hispanic Serving Institutions conference.

And I can’t imagine a better venue for this gathering than Florida International University – an institution I got to visit last year, and one that is helping communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean prepare for climate change, protect the Amazon, and strengthen justice systems throughout the hemisphere.

USAID has been lucky to partner with FIU on all those initiatives, and many more – and over the next few days, you’ll be hearing from our staff about what a career in international development might hold for you.

Here are a few reasons we hope you will consider working in development generally, and at USAID specifically:

First, once you join USAID, you will spend your days working to try to solve the greatest challenges of our time – climate change, global hunger, preventable disease, threats to freedom and democracy.

Second, you will have the chance, specifically, to focus on the needs of marginalized communities throughout the world – often traveling to distant places to engage with them.

And third, as you do these things, you will show the world the best America has to offer – our concern for others, our spirit of innovation, our willingness to lead on any problem.

I am appealing to you to consider this career path because for too long USAID recruited from a familiar set of institutions, filled with people from a familiar set of backgrounds. But, in order to solve the world’s hardest problems, we need people from across America to join our mission – every race, every class, every walk of life. We can never hope to support so many diverse communities around the world, unless we bring in the perspectives, talent, and ingenuity of diverse communities here in our own country.

That is what this conference is all about – building pathways from our nation’s Hispanic Serving Institutions to the meaningful work the United States does around the world. And the one thing I hope you take away from this conference is that if you want your work to have a global impact, then there is a place for you at USAID.

Thank you so much.

Samantha Power Hispanic Serving Institution/LatinX Conference
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