Cuban high schoolers may come to U.S.

Posted on Sunday, 06.01.14

Cuban high schoolers may come to U.S.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

The U.S. State Department is offering $1.2 million to bring 75 to 100
Cuban high school students to the United States for "summer leadership"
sessions, in a ongoing effort to provide educational opportunities to
island youths.

Sessions will focus on "leadership development, civic education
principles, and the structure of democratic organizations … from
national governments to local [nongovernment organizations] and student
advocacy groups," the department said.

U.S. programs on Cuba are designed "to empower Cubans to freely
determine their own future by increasing human capacity, promoting
community level engagement, and expanding civil society networks,"
according to last week's announcement.

Cuban authorities have threatened or denied exit permits to students who
wanted to participate in similar U.S. government-funded educational
programs in the past, branding them as thinly veiled efforts to
undermine the communist system.

The State Department said its Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) section
will consider proposals from U.S. nonprofits and higher-education
institutions for the $1.2 million to organize and run the "Summer
Leadership Program for Cuban Youth."

The first program, in the summer of 2015, will bring 25 to 35 high
school students to the United States for three- to four-week sessions,
and the second year will bring another 50 to 65, according to the
request for proposals.

Students will stay with U.S. families part of the time, don't have to
speak English, and will "participate in structured, youth-appropriate
leadership activities and workshops in a safe environment, interact with
American youth and gain first-hand experience of community engagement."

"To maximize the cultural and linguistic benefit for the Cuban students,
WHA strongly encourages applicants to consider the demographic and
geographic diversity of the U.S. in project planning," the announcement
said.

WHA added that it reserves the right to award the grant money to more
than one applicant or to none if none of proposals meets its criteria.
If the program is successful, WHA "may consider additional supplemental
funding to continue activities … or to support work on additional
activities," the announcement said.

The College of Communications at California State University, Fullerton,
will have a number of Cuban university students participating this
summer in specialized workshops on digital journalism, Dean William G.
Briggs said in May.

"When you consider that Cuba's a closed society, and that their idea of
journalism, since 1959, has been to just basically spout the party line
and say whatever Fidel [Castro] wanted them to say, the idea that they
are going to come to the United States and learn modern digital
communication techniques that they can take back with them, this is
going to represent a very serious, major crack in the dam," Briggs said.
"And the Cuban government knows that. But they also know that they have
to modernize their society."

Another 15 island youths who received scholarships from the Miami-based
Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC) to study this year at Miami
Dade College will be graduating this month from the five-month program.

Many of the 15 are the children of dissidents or independent activists,
such as bloggers and musicians. Some had been expelled from their Cuban
schools because of their activism. One other scholarship recipient
returned early to Cuba.

The FHRC program will expand soon with up to 40 students enrolled in
Florida universities and has a goal of 80-100 students enrolled each
semester, Jorge Mas Santos, president of the Cuban American National
Foundation (CANF), said last month.

Senior CANF members founded the FHRC in 1992 as a nonprofit to collect
assistance for human-rights activists on the island. It now helps groups
such as the Ladies in White and the Patriotic Union of Cuba.

FHRC Executive Director Pedro Rodriguez said Sunday that the State
Department's new summer program is completely unrelated to his
foundation's scholarships for the MDC students, although the FHRC is
considering applying for the $1.2 million grant.

"This is different and separate, but within the parameters of what we
can do," Rodriguez said.

The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded a three-year, $3.4
million grant to the FHRC in 2011, which expires at the end of
September, to support human rights on the island.

Rodriguez said the great majority of the costs of the MDC scholarships —
including travel, lodging, and food estimated at $12,000 to $15,000 per
student — was funded by $600,000 that the FHRC collects each year from
private donors.

Source: Cuban high schoolers may come to U.S. - Cuba - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/01/4151761/cuban-high-schoolers-may-come.html