Rachel Levine (Intrax), Linda Mori (CHI), Kaitlin Sinclair (Intrax), Legislative Assistant Sarah Jackson (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Washington, DC office), Dana Welch (CCUSA) and Emmanuel Diaz-Obregon (Intrax).
Several California based Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) sponsor organizations, certified by the Department of State, recently participated in a series of very successful meetings with congressional staff members to discuss the benefits and growing importance of cultural exchange.
The EVP sponsor organizations had focused discussions with congressional staff about the exchange community, information about the benefit of exchange experiences to the American public, program participants’ economic contribution to communities across the country, and the value of Americans spending time abroad.
The sponsor group – CCUSA, CHI and Intrax — met with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s Legislative Assistant, Sarah Jackson, in Washington, DC. Nancy Pelosi represents California’s 12th congressional district in San Francisco. Another productive meeting took place in San Francisco between representatives from the same organizations and Leader Pelosi’s district office Field Representative, David Latt.
Two weeks later on November 8th, Exchange Visitor Program sponsor organizations met with staffers at Congressman Jared Huffman’s district office in San Rafael, including Field Representative Amy Schroeder. Max Salvo attended for CHI, together with representatives from CCUSA and AWA. Congressman Jared Huffman represents California’s 2nd congressional district, stretching from the Oregon border down to the Golden Gate Bridge.
In 2017, California hosted over 18,000 exchange visitors in the Camp Counselor, Intern/Trainee, Summer Work/Travel and Au Pair programs, on top of over 150,000 international students registered in colleges and universities. In turn, California higher education institutions counted over 32,000 American students taking part in a study abroad program.
We are grateful to our elected officials for their continued support of exchange programs and look forward to more productive meetings in the future.
Max Salvo (CHI), Fariba Hicks (CCUSA), Field Representative David Latt (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district office) and Emmanuel Diaz-Obregon (Intrax).
Field Representative Amy Schroeder (Congressman Jared Huffman’s San Rafael district office), Veronica Martinez (CCUSA), Amber Bocanegra (American Work Adventures) and Max Salvo (CHI).
