Partners of the Americas began in 1964 as part of John F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress and is made up of volunteers from many walks of life, organized into partnerships between a state (or part of a state) in the U.S. and a country or state in Latin America, South America, and the Caribbean. Indiana, USA, and Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, comprise one of 60 partnerships; and there is a coordinating central office in Washington, DC. We aspire to facilitate economic and social development through people-to-people meetings of teachers, professionals, and business representatives from our partner states.

The origin of the Partners of the Alliance in 1964, which became the Partners of the Americas, is well known.  In June of that year, Mr. James Boren of the U.S. State Department went to Porto Alegre to meet with the Rio Grande do Sul Governor, Mr. Ildo Meneghetti, to discuss this people-to-people program.  Fortuitously, for us in Indiana, the Governor and several top civil officials were unavailable and the American Consul, Mr. Thomas Duiffield, asked a leading citizen, Mr. Dante Campaña, to meet Boren for this purpose.

In September, Mr. Thomas received word that both Indiana and Wisconsin would agree to Partnership with Rio Grande do Sul.  Because of Campaña’s familiarity with Indiana, he, having done business with Cummins Engine in Columbus, Indiana, chose Indiana.

At a November, 1964 meeting, Dante was asked to organize the Rio Grande do Sul Committee.  He did so and became it’s first president, a role he played for five years.  His counterpart in Indiana was Dr. Robert Carmin, a Dean at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.  Several government and industry leaders, with encouragement from Senator Birch Bayh, were active in the formation and work of the Indiana Committee of the new partnership.  Following these pathfinders, a long list of citizens from professional and academic life led the two committees.

Our Partnership has been very active in providing educational and practical opportunities for hordes of Gaúcho and Hoosier professionals through exchange visits.  At the same time, our Gaúcho and Hoosier cultures have been enriched by these exchanges which range over every Partners program area.

An especially vibrant area is youth exchanges.  Our ongoing Youth Ambassadors Program has sent students both directions the past nineteen years. A Youth Agricultural Exchange in cooperation with FFA Indiana has been temporarily suspended while new opportunities are being explored. Among many areas of exchanges, nurses education and ESL/EFL are especially active.

The partnership of Hoosiers and Gaúchos (as our partners in southern Brasil call themselves) has facilitated trips by individuals such as teachers of English as a second language, nurses and physicians seeking information about anti-drug education, artists and musicians. For many years we supported a "Seeds for the Americas" project to help indigent people develop produce gardens. We have also arranged programs for groups, such as groups of police captains, a Brasilian youth orchestra and an Indiana trade mission. Travelers usually pay their own airfare and the Partners in the host state provide an itinerary, home hospitality and local transportation.		A skyline of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul
The Waterfall in Canela	One of our more successful projects has been our on-going "Partners Youth Ambassadors" program. For sixteen years we have found host families for up to six Gaúcho high school kids to spend part of their Summer vacation (January and February) in Indiana. Only a few Hoosier kids had returned the favor. Indiana Partners cooperated with the White River Youth Choir on a project that sent them to Brasil to perform over the Summer of 1999. It was a project that allowed the choir to tour Brasil and to spread the gift of music, while learning about the different cultures of Rio Grande do Sul.
The Hoosier/Gaúcho partnership may be called upon for information about our partner state and country, Portuguese/English translations, and introductions to counterparts (governmental, academic, legal, commercial, etc.). Members of Partners engaged in projects approved by both committees may seek home hospitality when traveling to the Partner state.		The White River Youth Choir
Traditional German houses in Nova Petropolis		Rio Grande do Sul produces 90% of Brasil's wines, produces 28% of foodstuffs, does 80% of that countries agribusiness, ships 40% of their leather products and does 40% of the equipment manufacturing in Brasil. They have three times the area of Indiana, much of which is devoted to beef ranching, soybeans, wheat and corn. The influence of German farmers and miners and Italian wine producers is very strong among the Gaúchos, and they welcome opportunities to make friends and do business with Hoosiers.