IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 176 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2007 

Received 

AUGUST 3, 2007 

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To authorize the establishment of educational exchange and 

development programs for member countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Shirley A. Chisholm United States-Caribbean Edu4 cational Exchange Act of 2007’’. 

5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

6 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Findings and statement of purpose. 

Sec. 4. Shirley A. Chisholm United States-Caribbean Educational Exchange 

Program. 

Sec. 5. Program to provide educational development assistance for CARICOM 

countries. 

Sec. 6. Administrative provisions. 

Sec. 7. Reporting requirements. 

Sec. 8. Authorization of appropriations. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—Except as otherwise pro10 vided, the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Adminis11 trator of the United States Agency for International 

12 Development. 

13 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT14 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com15 mittees’’ means— 

16 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

17 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

18 of Representatives; and 

19 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

20 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

21 Senate. 


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1 (3) CARICOM COUNTRY.—The term 

2 ‘‘CARICOM country’’— 

3 (A) means a member country of the Carib4 bean Community (CARICOM); but 

5 (B) does not include— 

6 (i) a country having observer status in 

7 CARICOM; or 

8 (ii) a country the government of which 

9 the Secretary of State has determined, for 

10 purposes of section 6(j) of the Export Ad11 ministration Act of 1979 (as continued in 

12 effect pursuant to the International Emer13 gency Economic Powers Act), section 40 of 

14 the Arms Export Control Act, section 

15 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

16 1961, or any other provision of law, is a 

17 government that has repeatedly provided 

18 support for acts of international terrorism. 

19 (4) SECRETARY.—Except as otherwise provided, 

20 the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of State. 

21 (5) UNITED STATES COOPERATING AGENCY.— 

22 The term ‘‘United States cooperating agency’’ 

23 means— 

24 (A) an accredited institution of higher edu25 cation, including, to the maximum extent pracVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:33 Aug 06, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H176.RFS H176

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1 ticable, an historically Black college or univer2 sity that is a part B institution (as such term 

3 is defined in section 322(2) of the Higher Edu4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2))) or an 

5 Hispanic-serving institution (as such term is 

6 defined in section 502(5) of such Act (20 

7 U.S.C. 1101a(5))); 

8 (B) a higher education association; 

9 (C) a nongovernmental organization incor10 porated in the United States; or 

11 (D) a consortium consisting of two or more 

12 such institutions, associations, or nongovern13 mental organizations. 

14 SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 

15 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

16 (1) The United States and CARICOM countries 

17 have enjoyed long-standing friendly relations. 

18 (2) As an important regional partner for trade 

19 and democratic values, the Caribbean region con20 stitutes a ‘‘Third Border’’ of the United States. 

21 (3) The decrease in tourism revenue in the 

22 aftermath of the tragic terrorist attacks on Sep23 tember 11, 2001, had an adverse affect on the Car24 ibbean region. 


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1 (4) According to a 2005 World Bank Report on 

2 the Caribbean region, high rates of unemployment, 

3 particularly youth unemployment, have had severe 

4 implications on poverty and income distributions, as 

5 well as drug trafficking and addiction. 

6 (5) The 2005 World Bank Report also con7 cludes that better synchronization is needed between 

8 curricula in CARICOM countries and the skills 

9 needed in evolving national and regional job markets 

10 and economies. 

11 (6) Caribbean leaders have highlighted the need 

12 for increased educational opportunities for Carib13 bean students in fields that will contribute to and 

14 support an increasingly competitive regional econ15 omy. 

16 (7) Enhancing United States cultural and edu17 cational exchange programs in CARICOM countries 

18 will expand human resources, provide opportunities 

19 that promote economic growth, and improve regional 

20 security. 

21 (8) Many Caribbean leaders studied at the un22 dergraduate or graduate level in the United States 

23 before returning to their respective countries to con24 tribute toward the strengthening of democracy, the 

25 economy, or the provision of social services. 


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1 (9) From 2003 through 2005, 217 Caribbean 

2 leaders participated in exchange programs with the 

3 United States that focused on good governance, 

4 combating drug trafficking, anti-corruption, and 

5 other regional issues of concern. 

6 (10) The Department of State currently admin7 isters public outreach programs that include cul8 tural, academic, and citizen-exchange initiatives in 

9 CARICOM countries through the public affairs sec10 tions at United States embassies with support from 

11 the Office of Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of 

12 Western Hemisphere Affairs. 

13 (11) The Caribbean Center for Excellence in 

14 Teacher Training (C–CETT), a Presidential Initia15 tive funded by the United States Agency for Inter16 national Development and implemented by the Uni17 versity of the West Indies, works to improve the 

18 quality of reading instruction by training classroom 

19 and student teachers in seven countries of the 

20 English-speaking Caribbean. Belize, Jamaica, Gre21 nada, St. Lucia, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Gren22 adines, and Trinidad and Tobago have participated 

23 in the C–CETT as a means to reducing illiteracy

24 in the most disadvantaged urban and remote rural

25 areas. 


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1 (12) In Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the 

2 Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Cayman Islands, 

3 the Dominican Republic, Dominica, Grenada, Guy4 ana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. 

5 Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, 

6 and Trinidad and Tobago, the Bureau of Edu7 cational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of 

8 State sponsors educational advisors to promote 

9 study in the United States. 

10 (13) In the 2004–2005 academic year, approxi11 mately 14,000 Caribbean students were enrolled in 

12 United States colleges and universities. 

13 (14) Shirley Anita Chisholm, who served as a 

14 member of the United States House of Representa15 tives from 1968 to 1983, had family roots in the 

16 Caribbean nation of Barbados, was a staunch advo17 cate for educational opportunity and access, and in18 creased support for historically Black colleges and 

19 universities and other minority-serving institutions 

20 in the United States. 

21 (b) STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.—The purpose of this 

22 Act is to establish— 

23 (1) an educational exchange program between 

24 the United States and CARICOM countries, to be 

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1 Caribbean Educational Exchange Program’’, pursu2 ant to section 4 of this Act to assist in educating 

3 promising students and scholars from CARICOM 

4 countries who will invest the knowledge and experi5 ences they gain in the United States back into the 

6 community of CARICOM countries; and 

7 (2) a program to provide educational develop8 ment assistance for CARICOM countries pursuant 

9 to section 5 of this Act. 

10 SEC. 4. SHIRLEY A. CHISHOLM UNITED STATES-CARIBBEAN 

11 EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM. 

12 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of State 

13 is authorized to establish an educational exchange pro14 gram between the United States and CARICOM countries, 

15 to be known as the ‘‘Shirley A. Chisholm United States16 Caribbean Educational Exchange Program,’’ under 

17 which— 

18 (1) secondary school students from CARICOM 

19 countries will— 

20 (A) attend a public or private secondary 

21 school in the United States; 

22 (B) participate in activities designed to 

23 promote a greater understanding of the values 

24 and culture of the United States; and 


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1 (C) have the option to live with a United 

2 States host family and experience life in a 

3 United States host community; and 

4 (2) undergraduate students, graduate students, 

5 post-graduate students, and scholars from 

6 CARICOM countries will— 

7 (A) attend a public or private college or 

8 university, including a community college, in 

9 the United States; 

10 (B) participate in activities designed to 

11 promote a greater understanding of the values 

12 and culture of the United States; and 

13 (C) have the option to live with a United 

14 States host family and experience life in a 

15 United States host community or live in an on16 campus housing environment. 

17 (b) ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.—The program author18 ized under subsection (a) shall meet the following require19 ments: 

20 (1) The program will offer scholarships to stu21 dents and scholars based on merit and need. It is 

22 the sense of Congress that scholarships should be of23 fered under the program to students and scholars 

24 who evidence merit, achievement, and strong poten25 tial for the studies such students and scholars wish 


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1 to undertake under the program and 40 percent of 

2 scholarships offered under the program should be 

3 based on financial need. 

4 (2) The program will seek to achieve gender 

5 equality in granting scholarships under the program. 

6 (3) The program will limit participation to— 

7 (A) two years of study for secondary school 

8 students; 

9 (B) four years of study for undergraduate 

10 students; 

11 (C) 30 months of study for graduate stu12 dents; and 

13 (D) one year of study for post-graduate 

14 students and scholars. 

15 (4) For a period of time equal to the period of 

16 time of participation in the program, but not to ex17 ceed 2 years, the program will require participants 

18 who are students and scholars described in sub19 section (a)(2) to— 

20 (A) agree to return to live in a CARICOM 

21 country and maintain residence in such coun22 try, within 6 months of completion of academic 

23 studies; or 

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1 opment of one or more CARICOM countries 

2 and the people of such countries. 

3 (5) The Secretary of State shall have the dis4 cretion to waive, shorten the duration, or otherwise 

5 alter the requirements of paragraph (5) in limited 

6 circumstances of hardship, humanitarian needs, for 

7 specific educational purposes, or in furtherance of 

8 the national interests of the United States. 

9 (c) ROLE OF UNITED STATES COOPERATING AGEN10 CIES.—The Secretary shall consult with United States co11 operating agencies in developing the program authorized 

12 under subsection (a) and shall make grants to United 

13 States cooperating agencies in carrying out the program 

14 authorized under subsection (a). 

15 (d) MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF PROGRAM.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

17 and implement a system to monitor and evaluate the 

18 effectiveness and efficiency of the program author19 ized under subsection (a). In carrying out the sys20 tem, the Secretary shall evaluate the program’s posi21 tive or negative effects on brain drain from the par22 ticipating CARICOM countries and suggest ways in 

23 which the program may be improved to promote the 

24 basic goal of alleviating brain-drain from the partici25 pating CARICOM countries. 


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1 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out para2 graph (1), the Secretary shall review on a regular 

3 basis— 

4 (A) financial information relating to the 

5 program; 

6 (B) budget plans for the program; 

7 (C) adjustments to plans established for 

8 the program; 

9 (D) graduation rates of participants in the 

10 program; 

11 (E) the percentage of participants who are 

12 students described in subsection (a)(1) who 

13 pursue higher education; 

14 (F) the percentage of participants who re15 turn to their home country or another 

16 CARICOM country; 

17 (G) the types of careers pursued by par18 ticipants in the program and the extent to 

19 which such careers are linked to the political, 

20 economic, and social development needs of 

21 CARICOM countries; and 

22 (H) the impact of gender, country of ori23 gin, financial need of students, and other rel24 evant factors on the data collected under sub25 paragraphs (D) through (G). 


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1 (e) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that the Secretary should seek to work with 

3 CARICOM countries to establish an educational exchange 

4 program under which— 

5 (1) secondary school students from the United 

6 States will attend a public or private equivalent 

7 school in CARICOM countries; and 

8 (2) undergraduate students, graduate students, 

9 post-graduate students, and scholars from the 

10 United States will attend a public or private college 

11 or university in CARICOM countries. 

12 SEC. 5. PROGRAM TO PROVIDE EDUCATIONAL DEVELOP13 MENT ASSISTANCE FOR CARICOM COUN14 TRIES. 

15 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 

16 State, acting through the Administrator of the United 

17 States Agency for International Development, is author18 ized to establish a program to provide educational develop19 ment assistance for CARICOM countries. 

20 (b) PURPOSE OF PROGRAM.—The purpose of the pro21 gram authorized under subsection (a) is to improve pri22 mary and secondary education in CARICOM countries by 

23 enhancing teacher training, strengthening curriculum and 

24 instructional materials, and assisting improvements in 


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1 school management and public administration of edu2 cation. 

3 (c) ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.—The program author4 ized under subsection (a) shall extend and expand upon 

5 existing primary and secondary school programs in 

6 CARICOM countries to provide— 

7 (1) teacher-training methods and training in 

8 subject area studies; 

9 (2) classroom and school management; 

10 (3) development and modernization of cur11 riculum and instructional materials; 

12 (4) increased community involvement in school 

13 activities; and 

14 (5) local, regional, and national government pol15 icy planning on the elements described in para16 graphs (1) through (4). 

17 (d) ROLE OF UNITED STATES COOPERATING AGEN18 CIES.—The Secretary shall consult with the Secretary of 

19 Education and United States cooperating agencies in de20 veloping the program authorized under subsection (a) and 

21 shall make grants to United States cooperating agencies 

22 in carrying out the program authorized under subsection 

23 (a). 

24 (e) MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF PROGRAM.— 

25 The Secretary shall establish and implement a system to 


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1 monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of 

2 the program authorized under subsection (a). 

3 (f) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that the Secretary should seek to work with 

5 CARICOM countries to establish an educational develop6 ment program under which education in the CARICOM 

7 countries is improved and access to quality education for 

8 children in CARICOM countries is increased. 

9 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS. 

10 (a) FUNDING FROM PRIVATE SOURCES AND PART11 NERSHIPS WITH OTHER APPROPRIATE ENTITIES.—To 

12 the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary of State 

13 and the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

14 International Development should implement the pro15 grams authorized under sections 4 and 5 of this Act 

16 through utilization of funding from private sources to 

17 maximize the impact of United States funds under this 

18 Act, and through partnerships with appropriate United 

19 States organizations, institutions, and corporations. 

20 (b) AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION.—The Secretary 

21 and the Administrator shall consult with the Secretary of 

22 Education to ensure that— 

23 (1) activities under the programs authorized 

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1 tive of other United States educational programs for 

2 CARICOM countries; and 

3 (2) United States cooperating agencies and 

4 partner institutions in CARICOM countries are ac5 credited by national or regional accrediting bodies. 

6 (c) REPORTING UNDER SEVIS.—To the extent nec7 essary, the Secretary shall provide support to United 

8 States cooperating agencies that are participating in the 

9 program authorized under section 4 of this Act in order 

10 to fulfill the requirements for student data reporting 

11 under the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Sys12 tem (SEVIS). 

13 SEC. 7. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

14 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

16 of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

17 committees a report on plans to implement the programs 

18 authorized under sections 4 and 5 of this Act. 

19 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re20 quired by subsection (a) shall include— 

21 (1) with respect to implementation of the pro22 gram authorized under section 4— 

23 (A) a plan for selecting participants in the 

24 program, including an estimate of the number 

25 of secondary school students, undergraduate 


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1 students, graduate students, post-graduate stu2 dents, and scholars from each country, by edu3 cational level, who will be selected as partici4 pants in the program for each fiscal year; 

5 (B) a timeline for selecting United States 

6 cooperating agencies that will assist in imple7 menting the program; 

8 (C) a financial plan that— 

9 (i) identifies budget plans for each 

10 educational level under the program; and 

11 (ii) identifies plans or systems to en12 sure that the costs to public school, college, 

13 and university education under the pro14 gram and the costs to private school, col15 lege, and university education under the 

16 program are reasonably allocated; and 

17 (D) a plan to provide outreach to and link18 ages with schools, colleges and universities, and 

19 nongovernmental organizations in both the 

20 United States and CARICOM countries for im21 plementation of the program; and 

22 (2) a plan outlining implementation of the pro23 gram authorized under section 5, identifying the ini24 tial countries in which the program will be imple25 mented and a timeline for implementation. 


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1 (c) UPDATES OF REPORT.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall submit 

3 to the appropriate congressional committees updates 

4 of the report required by subsection (a) for each fis5 cal year for which amounts are appropriated pursu6 ant to the authorization of appropriations under sec7 tion 8 of this Act. 

8 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—Such updates 

9 shall include the following: 

10 (A) Information on United States cooper11 ating agencies that are selected to assist in im12 plementing the programs authorized under sec13 tions 4 and 5 of this Act. 

14 (B) An analysis of the positive and nega15 tive impacts the program authorized under sec16 tion 4 will have or is having on brain drain 

17 from the participating CARICOM countries. 

18 (C) A description of efforts made by the 

19 Secretary of State, acting through the Adminis20 trator of the United States Agency for Inter21 national Development, to implement the pro22 gram authorized under section 5. 

23 (D) A description of the programs estab24 lished in each CARICOM country receiving as25 sistance under the program authorized under 


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1 section 5 that provides a detailed explanation of 

2 the extent to which the program and the assist3 ance provided are contributing to the purpose 

4 of the program described in section 5(b) in the 

5 CARICOM country. 

6 (E) An evaluation of additional educational 

7 development goals in CARICOM countries, 

8 identifying those goals that could be maximized 

9 or achieved with United States assistance 

10 through the program authorized under section 

11 5. In addition to standard or necessary areas of 

12 education review, the evaluation should give at13 tention to factors affecting academic achieve14 ment, attrition, and graduation rates in 

15 CARICOM countries. The evaluation should 

16 suggest ways in which United States assistance 

17 can maximize success factors and address fac18 tors contributing to poor achievement. 

19 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 To carry out this Act, there are authorized to be ap21 propriated such sums as may be necessary for each of the 

22 fiscal years 2008 through 2012. Amounts appropriated 

23 pursuant to the authorization of appropriations under this 


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1 section are in addition to amounts otherwise available for 

2 such purposes. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 31, 2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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