Each year, many Mexicans come north, and over half a million Americans currently reside in Mexico.
Migration brings challenges.
States such as Georgia, whose Hispanic population has doubled in less than a decade are ill-equipped to meet the needs of Hispanic residents who often speak little or no English and who face other difficulties in adjusting to a new culture. Other issues such as a lack of access to quality education, health resources, and nutrition information, which have long plagued Mexico, pose similar challenges in Atlanta. The Institution Partnership builds on an existing six-year linkage between the universities which has included educational exchanges and visits to investigate potential programs for the Mexican university. According to ALO Director Joan M. Claffey, higher education partnerships are a cost-efficient and effective form of development. According to a 1997 U.S. Department of Education study, one-third of all Hispanic students in the U.S. fail to finish school.