NAFSA: Association of International Educators has committed $250,000 in grant funding for the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative in honour of outgoing CEO Marlene Johnson.

Students in the US are now permitted to visit Cuba to conduct “people-to-people educational travel”, under new rules announced ahead of President Obama’s visit to Havana. Obama also announced new Cuba-specific funding for the 100,000 Strong in the Americas fund.

A spokesperson for the US Department of State took the opportunity to implore delegates attending the 2014 WYSTC Conference last week to support in the 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative, and consider enabling access to the scheme's Innovation Fund which can help fund US-Latin America student exchange. The US needs to double its outbound student traffic to reach its stated goal of 100K US students in Latin America or the Caribbean.