The Chile-California Council (CCC) is a non-profit organization that promotes education in Chile and the collaboration of developmental technology and protection of the environment. It was founded in 2011 and built upon the many years of teamwork and synergy between Chile and California; this includes programs such as the Chile-California Program from 1963 and the Chile-California Plan, signed in 2008.

Although the CCC is actively involved in many important fields, it specializes in the promotion of technology and educational internships to bridge international relationships.

Juan Ibañez, administrative director, describes the Chile-California Council by saying, “We center our efforts on bringing actors from both the public and private world together and supporting collaboration among scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs from Chile and California.”

The Chile-California Council was recently the driving force behind a joint program with Chile’s educational Prácticas para Chile (PPC) initiative.  The joint program gives a small group of students from several American colleges a chance to intern with the government in Chile and a chance to intern at the CCC regional office, which is located in San Francisco.

The PPC internship, which is financially supported by the Chilean Government, grants graduate students a chance to work closely and hands on with forming new public policies in Chile.

There are many exchange programs that Chile-California Council encourages, including the Studying in California program, which allows Chilean students to study at top California universities such as Stanford, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of California-Davis, the University of California- Los Angeles and the University of California-San Diego.

One particularly exciting example of CCC’s success is a brief documentary that focuses on three Chilean students, José Causa, Luis Alberto, and Christóbal Mackenzie, who interned at Google’s Mountain View location. The goal of the documentary, which was sponsored by the Chile-California Council, Chile’s Ministry of Economy, Barefoot production and Google, was to reach out to more Chilean students and urge them to consider internships and careers at Google.

To appeal to younger students, the CCC promotes the Edible Schoolyard initiative.  First Lady Cecilia Morel of Chile created her own version, called “Vive tu Huerto,” in 2013, which seeks to supply 100 Chilean schools with gardens. The intention is to teach Chilean students more healthful eating and living habits and encourage them to be more in touch with the earth and nature.

Morel said “the idea of these gardens is that children learn to understand the land, how it is prepared for planting, how to care and make better use increasingly scarce resources such as water and how to recycle and produce fertilizer from organic waste products.”

A full list of the Chile-California Council’s endeavors and activities can be found on its website.

– Rebecca Felcon 

Sources: Nearshore Americas
Photo: Hope 87