Travel challenges aren’t stopping Partners members from connecting and changing the world. On July 18, the Indiana and Rio Grande do Sul chapters produced a joint webinar for participants in the Legislative Fellows program (you can watch the entire webinar here). It not only talked about how the program got started but where they wanted it to go from here. Hosted by Sofia Lucca (Vice President and former Youth Ambassador), she handed it over to both chapter presidents, Lúcia Helena Araújo Lima and Rosane Zelmanovitz, who gave opening remarks on why Partners programs like Legislative Fellows are so important.
João Aguiar next explained that Partners once had several Fellows programs: agricultural, business, legislative, etc. However, the Indiana and Rio Grande do Sul chapters decided to keep the Legislative Fellows program going because of its success. Roger Dorneles talked about how his experiences in Indiana with Legislative Fellows changed his life and impacted his work and volunteerism today (we mentioned Roger’s volunteer work a couple months ago!).
Next up was Rodrigo Prestes and Danielle Todeschini who both discussed how the coronavirus has impacted southern Brazil. No one was prepared for this virus and everyone has been trying to use the Internet as a workaround, but it hasn’t been without its struggles and challenges. They’re really hoping for some private and public partnerships to help bridge the gaps. To compare Rio Grande do Sul and Indiana, as Rosane pointed out, Rio Grande do Sul has almost twice the population than Indiana, but they also have fewer cases and fewer deaths than Indiana. (Perhaps some astute Partners members can collaborate and help figure out the solutions to all this and save the world?) Krista Rivera and Becca Polcz Rice got the opportunity to speak about how businesses and schools have been affected in Indiana, and specifically the governor’s response and economic impact.
And as a reminder, the Legislative Partners is not just limited to those in the law field, but can be extended to social work, public health, financial field, or anyone who has an interest in working closer with how the state and/or municipal governments work to benefit the people. It may be a while yet before we can do any traveling back and forth, but we’re still making plans for the future and working together virtually.
If you are interested in learning more or participating in the Legislative Fellows program, you can contact Krista Rivera at rivera.krista@gmail.com.
Comentários