Washington, D.C. - Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D-MD) joined officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Baltimore-based International Youth Foundation (IYF) in a commemorative signing ceremony marking a new partnership to help support youth development in the Balkans and develop information and job training skills in Latin America and the Caribbean. Each program will receive a $3 million grant from USAID to support regional initiatives over a three-year period.

"The International Youth Foundation has been working to support the development of children and young people in almost every corner of the globe," said Sarbanes, who serves as a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been a strong supporter of the efforts of USAID. "IYF has skillfully reached out to develop working relationships with local institutions, international organizations, and major corporations, and will continue to do terrific work with this new funding for their efforts in the Balkans, Latin America, and the Caribbean."

Joining Sarbanes was Fred Schieck, the Deputy Administrator for USAID; Don Terry, Manager, Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank; and William Reese, Chief Operating Officer of IYF, among other guests. The signing highlighted the importance of partnerships among the government, nonprofit, and business sectors as well as USAID’s new business model, the Global Development Alliance (GDA).

"USAID is honored to be joining the International Youth Foundation and Senator Sarbanes, a good friend of both organizations, to commemorate the recent signings of two very important public-private partnerships," Schieck said. "We look forward to providing hope and opportunity to thousands of young people through these initiatives."

The $3 million Balkan effort will help expand the work of the newly established Balkan Children and Youth Foundation -- a partner of IYF, through strengthening its programs as well as its efforts to strengthen the capacity of local youth serving organizations throughout the region. Launched in 2000, BCYF supports a range of youth initiatives, including a program that promotes values of gender equality and tolerance in Zagreb, Croatia and another in Serbia that enables young artists to display and market their art via the Internet.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania and Yugoslavia would be eligible for support through the grant.

An additional $3 million will support young people in Latin America and the Caribbean to enter the 21st century workforce. With this grant, USAID will join the entra 21 program - a partnership of IYF and MIF. Entra 21 will co-finance 40 locally conceived and executed projects that will train youth, ages 16 to 29, in skills related to information and communication technology and place them in jobs. Resources from IYF, MIF, and USAID will be used to leverage additional support from the private sector.

"IYF appreciates Senator Sarbanes' support for a strong foreign aid program," said Bill Reese, Chief Operating Officer, of IYF. "The Senator has long been an advocate for a progressive foreign aid program and we salute his leadership. We embrace, as well, USAID’s new Global Development Alliance that seeks to leverage public and private sector resources to take best practice programs to scale, and to positively impact the greatest number of young people."

The International Youth Foundation (IYF) is one of the world’s largest public foundations focused on children and youth. IYF is dedicated to supporting programs that improve the conditions and prospects for young people where they live, learn, work, and play. Since its founding in 1990, IYF has worked with hundreds of companies, foundations, and nongovernmental organizations to scale up existing programs and build long-term strategic partnerships. Currently operating in more than 60 countries, IYF and its partners have helped more than 23 million young people gain the skills, training, and opportunities critical to their success. To learn more about IYF, please visit www.iyfnet.org.

International Youth Foundation

International Youth Foundation

The International Youth Foundation (IYF) invests in the extraordinary potential of young people. Founded in 1990, IYF builds and maintains a worldwide community of businesses, governments, and civil society organizations committed to empowering youth to be healthy, productive, and engaged citizens. IYF programs are catalysts of change that help young people obtain a quality education, gain employability skills, make healthy choices, and improve their communities. To learn more visit www.iyfnet.org.

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