Outreach to Government and Business

Part of LACC's Title VI mission is to conduct educational outreach to government and business on Latin America and the Caribbean. These activities include lectures and conferences as well as workshops on specific topics vital to the interests of public and private sector organizations. LACC's Summit of the Americas Center and Institute for International Professional Services play a leading role in this outreach effort.

LACC also has a good track record of placing graduates of the MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and LACC certificate programs with government agencies and top international companies.

LACC’s outreach programs include:

Democracy, Development, and Security in the Americas

Government policy makers have recognized the strong links between levels of democracy, development, and security across Latin America and the Caribbean. LACC faculty associates constitute one of the largest concentrations of regional specialists in these topics at any US university. Working with the United Nations Development Program, Organization of American States, US Agency for International Development, and a number of other organizations, LACC coordinates numerous outreach and research projects on democracy and development issues in the Americas. In partnership with the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College, the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at the National Defense University, the Inter-American Defense College, and the US Southern Command, LACC hosts a number of events dealing with security issues in the Americas. These initiatives support the Miami Security Roundtable (see below) and LACC democracy and development programs. LACC is a participant in the US Department of Defense Foreign Area Officer’s program, where mid-level military officers selected to become regional specialists complete LACC’s Master's of Arts program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies program. LACC also has a partnership MA degree program with the Joint Forces Staff College. Additionally, LACC participates with the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute in the special publication series Shaping the Regional Security Environment in Latin America.

Miami Security Roundtable

The Miami Security Roundtable was co-founded in 1997 by LACC, the University of Miami’s North-South Center and the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). The Miami Security Roundtable was chartered to provide coordination and information-sharing among its members on security issues in the Americas. It sponsors lectures, seminars, roundtables and conferences with leading academics, journalists, military leaders, diplomats and government officials from the region. More important, it has created an informal security studies network in South Florida, allowing personnel from SOUTHCOM, LACC and the North-South Center to participate regularly in each other's academic, outreach, and research programs. South Florida federal law enforcement, military, and intelligence organizations, including the DEA, FBI, Financial Action Task Force, US Air Force ROTC (UM), US Army ROTC (FIU), US Army Recruiting Command, US Coast Guard, South Florida Investigative Support Center, South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area organization and the new agencies representing the US Department of Homeland Security are all regular participants. In 2002, Florida Gulf Coast University, Nova Southeastern University, Florida Atlantic University and Miami-Dade College joined Miami Security Roundtable activities.

AmericasNet

The Summit of the Americas Center (SOAC) provides an informational website, AmericasNet.net, which offers timely news, analysis, and comment on Summit implementation, with special emphasis on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations. The internet-based information system is a free resource to governmental and non-governmental organizations in the Americas and benefits Florida by gathering, disseminating, and linking to the trade-related information that is critical to assessing the impact of hemispheric integration on the State. Throughout the multilateral discussions, SOAC presents a regular selection of information on the ups and downs of the FTAA process and the overall Summit of the Americas context as seen through the eyes of observers and participants from around the Hemisphere.