Washington, DC - This week, 247 business and social entrepreneurs from Latin America and the Caribbean arrived in Washington, D.C. for the closing forum of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Professional Fellows Program.

For the past five weeks, the YLAI fellows have been collaborating with their counterparts in businesses and civil society organizations in 24 U.S. cities, strengthening two-way business ties between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The closing forum will focus on leadership and skills development training. Follow-on grants will allow mentors from select 2017 U.S. host organizations to travel to the YLAI fellows’ home countries to build on the partnerships that began as a result of this exchange program.