The Regional Director for Communities, Graça Castanho, concluded on Sunday a visit to the United States, where she developed a wide range of initiatives to strengthen ties between that country and the Azores.

On the east coast, Graça Castanho had the opportunity to meet with Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, from the Bristol County Detention Centre, and his team with the purpose of analysing the contents to be included in the audiovisual materials that will be offered under the LEGAL programme to the community in general and those facing deportation.

The government official also met with Jamie Mello, Ed Tavares and Jane Carreiro, the co-organisers of the "Summer Training" project which aims to provide students of the University of the Azores with an opportunity of developing professional activities in areas as diverse as management, computer science, engineering , social service, marketing and hotel.
 
This initiative also provides a more comprehensive knowledge of the Azorean Diaspora.

The programme is promoted by the Regional Directorate for Communities and will take place in August. The implementation of this initiative will only be possible with the help of the Azorean community of the East and West coasts of the United States and Canada.

In addition to participating in the celebrations of Portugal Day in Fall River, at the invitation of "Rádio Voz do Emigrante," Graça Castanho exchanged compliments with the new director of "Portuguese Times." The government official also worked with the entities in charge of the project Universal Design for Learning and Teaching of Portuguese Worldwide in  in order to finalise the preparations for the International Congress on UDL to take place at the University of the Azores in Ponta Delgada on September 6 and 7.

When visiting Sacramento, California, the Regional Director for Communities met with state senator Helen Corbett as well as with several politicians of Azorean descent, members of the lobby group representing the major cities where our communities reside, the Consul of Portugal in San Francisco and members of the community.

At the occasion, Graça Castanho made a presentation on "the contemporary Azores " and recalled the several programmes developed by the Regional Directorate for Communities for the benefit of Azorean communities residing in the United States.

Graça Castanho had the opportunity to hear how important the contributions made by the Azorean community have been in the development of California and of the United States as well as the advantages of deepening the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the State of California and the Azores in areas such as agriculture, dairy, livestock, seismography, marine science and volcanology.

Being priority areas for both regions, the Regional Director for Communities stressed that the California Senate is undertaking efforts to organise a visit to the Azores with a delegation composed of politicians, lobbyists, scholars and businesspeople. The purpose of this visit is to study on the ground innovative ways of bringing the Azores closer to California, a destination with over one hundred years of common history.

For the government official, the visit to the cities of Artesia, San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Clara, where she met with businesspeople, social institutions and community representatives to study the possibilities of "Summer Training" project, was a very important moment as it showed the expressiveness of our community in California."

During the visit to San Jose, a city located in the heart of Silicon Valley where technologies ensure the financial sustainability of the State of California, Graça Castanho met with leaders of Cisco Systems, one of the world's largest companies in the area of computer applications in order to present a proposal for a training programme addressed at Azorean students.

In the same city, the Regional Director for Communities also participated in the celebrations of Holy Spirit Festivities, which annually gather thousands of Azoreans and people of Azorean of Azorean descent. While attending the celebrations at the Five Wounds Portuguese Church, which was built by Azoreans, the government official conveyed "the pride the islands have in their communities and the work they have developed in the United States of America in favour of integration and the promotion of the Azores in these places."