Samantha Power, USAID administrator visits FIU community (includes video story)

USAID administrator and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power paid a visit to FIU Tuesday.

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She met students and faculty to discuss future areas of collaboration and involvement with the crisis in Ukraine. Powell said her agency aims to provide families in Ukraine with shelter, food and medical aid.

“Ukraine right now is suffering the largest displacement crisis,” shared Power. “Not only in our time, but in decades. So we’re trying to meet them where they are with their needs to provide organizations that are working on the ground in Ukraine like the United Nations with resources. So that when the family comes in, they can be sheltered, they can be fed.”

In addition to signing a memorandum of understanding with FIU, Power discussed various topics like international developments, LGBTQ rights and efforts in protecting Latin American journalists.

“And so what we try to do, is we try to fund independent media, in Latin America in Central America, in some of the places where violence is the worst,” shared Power. “We aim to grow the independent media landscape… and to look ahead and think what are the new threats that are coming online, so they have protection against those as well.”

FIU and USAID have had a 40-year relationship. Since the 1980s, FIU faculty and researchers have joined USAID in launching groundbreaking reforms worldwide.

Zitlali Solache is a student in Florida International University, pursuing her Masters degree in Spanish-Language Broadcast Journalism. Zitlali Solache is Mexican American and has a passion for storytelling and news. She has interned for WPBT PBS, WSVN Channel 7 and STEP Univision. After graduation, Zitlali aspires to become a reporter/anchor in her hometown Miami, FL.