After observing transplant operations while on a trip to Virginia, a surgeon from Santa Catarina, Brazil, performs the first liver transplant in his state.

Farmers in Honduras increase the quality and reduce the cost of sugar after adapting the techniques of maple sugar producers they met from Vermont.

High school students in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, teach other teen-agers about pregnancy and HIV/AIDS prevention after a child psychologist from Bahia, Brazil, trains them how to become peer consultants.

This is the work of Partners of the Americas volunteers. We cross borders. We collaborate. And we make a difference.

At the heart of Partners is this “people-to-people” philosophy, which grew out of a 1962 call by President John F. Kennedy for citizens of the Western Hemisphere to work together. Inspired by the challenge, Jim Boren, one of our founders, envisioned a two-way network of volunteer partnerships that would enable everyday people to contribute to the Americas.

Today, Partners has evolved into 120 volunteer chapters linked in 60 partnerships. Chapters in U.S. states form partnerships with chapters in countries or states in Latin America and the Caribbean, as shown on these maps. Partnerships build cultural awareness, respect and camaraderie. They create and implement projects that improve the quality of life of others. And they become leaders in their respective communities.

Men and women from all walks of life – doctors, artists, high school students, foresters, city administrators, professors – are part of the Partners family.  Besides the time and technical abilities donated by volunteers, a number of major corporations, foundations and government agencies support their work.

Partners of the Americas welcomes all individuals and organizations willing to share their skills and work toward greater international cooperation among the people of the Western Hemisphere.

Join us today!