The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

Readout of the President’s Meeting with Leaders from Veterans of Foreign Wars

Earlier this afternoon, the President met with Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Commander-in-Chief William A. “Bill” Thien and Executive Director Bob Wallace in the Oval Office.  The President started the meeting by reiterating his thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed and wounded during the recent shooting at Fort Hood.  The President commended the military personnel, first responders, and medical staff who responded swiftly to the horrific shooting. 

The President discussed key steps his Administration has taken to ensure that our veterans receive quality health care, get the benefits they have earned, and have access to the education and training they need to re-enter the workforce.  The President also raised the issue of military and veterans mental health and suicide prevention and thanked the VFW for its work to ensure that those seeking assistance are able to obtain it.

The leaders from the VFW brought up the issue of sequester, and asked that the President continue to ensure that Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) services are not impacted. The President noted that he has increased VA’s budget since he came into office and that he would continue to make VA funding a top priority.  On the issue of the disability claims backlog, the President noted the VA has made great progress, cutting the backlog by more than 40 percent in the last year, but that there is more work to be done.  The President has previously announced that he remains committed to eliminating the disability claims backlog in 2015.  Leaders from VFW also asked the President to convey their thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden for their work through their Joining Forces initiative to support and engage veterans and military families.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

White House Announces America’s PrepareAthon!: First National Day of Action, April 30

Washington, D.C. – Today, the White House announced that the first America’s PrepareAthon! national day of action will take place April 30, 2014. America’s PrepareAthon! is a nationwide, community-based campaign to increase emergency preparedness and resilience through participation in hazard-specific drills, group discussions and exercises conducted at the national level every fall and spring.  The campaign was directed as part of the Presidential Policy Directive-8: National Preparedness. On April 30, individuals, families, workplaces, schools and organizations will come together to practice simple actions to stay safe before, during, and after disasters.

Building on the success of preparedness efforts like the The Ready Campaign, the goal of America’s PrepareAthon! is to build a more secure and resilient nation by getting more Americans to understand what disasters could happen in their communities and what to do to be safe and prepared. The campaign is focused on getting participants to take action to increase their preparedness and participate in community resilience planning.

On April 30, and throughout the spring, America’s PrepareAthon! activities will focus on preparing organizations and individuals for tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires.

Here’s how to join:

  • Register: Participate in America’s PrepareAthon! at www.ready.gov/prepare.
  • Be Smart: Download guides to learn how to prepare for a tornado, hurricane, flood or wildfire
  • Take Part: Plan activities and host an event locally on April 30th
  • Prepare: Practice a drill or have a discussion about preparedness
  • Share: Promote your activities, events and best practices with national preparedness community members  

As with any skill, when it comes to preparedness, practice makes perfect. By learning the right actions and taking time to practice them, you, your family and your community can be ready to respond.

Participants commit to taking at least one concrete step to prepare for a hazard they might face in their community. The America’s PrepareAthon! website, www.ready.gov/prepare, provides Day of Action guides, How to Prepare guides, and customizable promotional materials designed to help Americans take action and join the growing number of individuals who recognize that preparing for disasters is a shared responsibility.

Follow the discussion on Twitter by following @PrepareAthon or #PrepareAthon. For questions about America’s PrepareAthon! contact PrepareAthon@fema.dhs.gov. For more information, go to www.ready.gov/prepare.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

FACT SHEET: Strengthening Entrepreneurship At Home and Abroad

“Let’s do more to help the entrepreneurs and small business owners who create most new jobs in America.”

– President Barack Obama, State of the Union, January 28, 2014

Entrepreneurs play a critical role in expanding the economy and creating jobs.  President Obama is committed to increasing the prevalence and success of entrepreneurs across the country, including through the White House Startup America initiative, an “all-hands-on-deck” effort to expand access to capital, accelerate innovation, and promote private sector efforts to strengthen the Nation’s startup communities.  The United States also runs and funds hundreds of programs to support entrepreneurs globally and maintains a broad coalition of governments, business people, civil society, investors, and academics to educate and support entrepreneurs around the world.

Building on these efforts, today the Administration is announcing a series of new steps to accelerate the success of entrepreneurs in the United States and across the globe:  

Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship: Today, President Obama hosted the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE), a group of successful American businesspeople who have committed to sharing their time, energy, ideas, and  experience to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs at home and abroad. The group is chaired by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, and the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are also partners in this effort.

Attracting the World’s Best and Brightest: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon publish several proposed rules that will make the United States more attractive to talented foreign entrepreneurs and other high-skill immigrants who will contribute substantially to the U.S. economy, create jobs, and enhance American innovative competitiveness.  These proposed regulations include rules authorizing employment for spouses of certain high-skill workers on H-1B visas, as well as enhancing opportunities for outstanding professors and researchers. These measures build on continuing DHS efforts to streamline, eliminate inefficiency, and increase the transparency of the existing immigration system, such as by the launch of Entrepreneur Pathways, an online resource center that gives immigrant entrepreneurs an intuitive way to navigate opportunities to start and grow a business in the United States.

Accelerating Biomedical Entrepreneurs from Lab to Market:  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are launching a new collaboration to empower entrepreneurial scientists and address the critical gap between fundamental research and the development of a commercial entity.  Academic researchers and entrepreneurs who receive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from NIH will be eligible to pilot a new version of the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program that is specially tailored for biomedical technologies.  This intensive, mentor-driven experience is changing the way that NSF-funded researchers think about the commercialization process.  NIH will also help scale up I-Corps by augmenting existing NIH-funded programs, such as the NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovation (NCAI), that focus on promising technologies developed by academic researchers.  Faculty and students who participate in these new I-Corps programs will receive mentorship opportunities, entrepreneurial training, and modest funding to enable them to move their ideas from the lab to the market. 

Energizing Entrepreneurs to Help End Extreme Poverty: Fostering entrepreneurs and strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems are vital elements of USAID’s newly launched U.S. Global Development Lab (The Lab).  The Lab will empower a global network of individuals to help create, solve and scale innovative solutions to global challenges by applying rigorous scientific, business, research, and technological expertise. In the next five years, scientists and technology experts at The Lab will create a new global marketplace of innovations and take them to scale to reach over 200 million people worldwide. The Lab is pioneering open-source development models like Development Innovation Ventures and Grand Challenges that nurture new solvers and players in emerging markets and spurring innovation. The Lab is expanding a Global Development Alliance furthering LGBT equality through entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprise growth in Latin America.  A new USAID Research and Innovation Fellowships Program will send more than 60 young U.S. leaders in science and technology to universities, NGOs, and companies in 12 developing countries this year.

Bolstering Exchanges and Training for Entrepreneurs in the Western Hemisphere: This fall, the State Department will host TechCamps for women in El Salvador, Colombia, and Argentina. These camps will bring together hundreds of women across the region over the course of the year and provide them training to address key challenges in business formation, from financing to marketing. Additionally, the State Department will be launching two new exchange programs for entrepreneurs in the Western hemisphere. The Small Business Network of the Americas (SBNA) Fellowship Program will connect incubators across the hemisphere to share best practices in entrepreneurial development and unlock market access for small businesses across the region. The Professional Fellows Program will bring Salvadorian, Guatemalan, and American officials together for a six-week internship and training program focuses on professional development, problem-solving, and networking.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

Readout of the President’s Meeting with the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship

This afternoon President Obama met with the inaugural members of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) at the White House, along with Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, the PAGE Chair.

Established by the Department of Commerce, PAGE is a group of successful American businesspeople eager to share their knowledge and experience to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs at home and abroad.  Members have agreed to participate in an ongoing dialogue with policy makers globally, acting as goodwill ambassadors in discussions about how to create an environment where creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship can grow and thrive.  They will also participate in outreach and mentorship activities to help promote start-up culture, and energize their own personal and professional networks to challenge and inspire budding entrepreneurs and raise awareness of the many resources available to them. They will work with Entrepreneurs Across Borders, an UP Global initiative, that will connect highly successful entrepreneurs with hundreds of cities in the United States and around the world to help spark grassroots startup growth.

During their meeting, President Obama thanked members for their commitment to this cause and discussed the critical role that entrepreneurship plays in spurring job growth and sparking innovation.  He urged them to use the PAGE platform to help others learn from their experiences, benefit from their networks, and inspire new business owners to create economic opportunity in their own communities, throughout the country and across the globe.

The inaugural members of PAGE are:

--Rich Barton, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Zillow (Seattle, WA)

--Tory Burch, Chief Executive Officer, Tory Burch; Founder, Tory Burch Foundation (New York, NY)

--Steve Case, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Revolution (Washington, DC)

--Helen Greiner, Chief Executive Officer, CyPhyWorks; Co-Founder, iRobot Corporation (Danvers, MA)

--Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn (Mountain View, CA)

--Quincy Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Quincy Jones Productions (Los Angeles, CA)

--Salman Khan, Founder and Executive Director, Khan Academy (Mountain View, CA)

--Daphne Koller, Co-Founder and President, Coursera (Mountain View, CA)

--Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chobani (New York, NY)

--Nina Vaca, Chief Executive Officer, Pinnacle Technical Resources (Dallas, TX)

--Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, LearnVest (New York, NY)

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate

NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE:

Steven H. Cohen, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation for a term expiring December 10, 2019.  (Reappointment)

Thomas P. Kelly III, of California, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Djibouti.

Jane Toshiko Nishida, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, vice Michelle DePass, resigned.

Sunil Sabharwal, of California, to be United States Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund for a term of two years, vice Douglas A. Rediker, resigned.

Gordon O. Tanner, of Alabama, to be General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force, vice Charles A. Blanchard, resigned.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

Message -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Somalia

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13536 of April 12, 2010, with respect to Somalia is to continue in effect beyond April 12, 2014.

On January 17, 2013, the United States Government announced its recognition of the Government of Somalia. The United States had not recognized a government in Somalia for the previous 22 years. Although the U.S. recognition underscores a strong commitment to Somalia's stabilization, it does not remove the importance of U.S. sanctions, especially against persons undermining the stability of Somalia. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to Somalia and to maintain in force the sanctions to respond to this threat.

BARACK OBAMA

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

Notice -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Somalia

NOTICE

- - - - - - -

CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH

RESPECT TO SOMALIA

On April 12, 2010, by Executive Order 13536, I declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the deterioration of the security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia, acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, which have repeatedly been the subject of United Nations Security Council resolutions, and violations of the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

On July 20, 2012, I issued Executive Order 13620 to take additional steps to deal with the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13536 in view of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2036 of February 22, 2012, and Resolution 2002 of July 29, 2011, and to address: exports of charcoal from Somalia, which generate significant revenue for al-Shabaab; the misappropriation of Somali public assets; and certain acts of violence committed against civilians in Somalia, all of which contribute to the deterioration of the security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia.

Because the situation with respect to Somalia continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, the national emergency declared on April 12, 2010, and the measures adopted on that date and on July 20, 2012, to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond April 12, 2014. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13536.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

BARACK OBAMA

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

Statement by the President

The Maryland Legislature did the right thing for its workers today by increasing the state minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Maryland’s important action is a reminder that many states, cities and counties – as well as a majority of the American people – are way ahead of Washington on this crucial issue. I applaud Governor O’Malley and the state legislature for leading by example and giving more Maryland workers the raise they deserve. But there’s only one group who can get the job done for the entire country – that’s Congress. They should follow Maryland’s lead and lift wages for 28 million Americans by passing legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10, helping to ensure that no American who works full time has to raise a family in poverty, and that every American who works hard has the opportunity to succeed.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 07, 2014

FACT SHEET: Youth CareerConnect

Too few of America’s students are meaningfully engaged in their academic experience while in high school, and many high school graduates lack exposure to learning that links their studies in school to future college and career pathways – especially in the critically important fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). President Obama has called for a comprehensive effort to rethink the high school experience for America’s youth, challenging schools to scale up innovative models that personalize teaching and learning so that students stay on track to graduate with the knowledge and skills they’ll need to succeed in college and in careers.   

President Obama has made clear that he is committed to making 2014 a year of action by taking steps – both with Congress and on his own – to expand opportunity for all Americans. As part of achieving the President’s vision to prepare all students for success in post-secondary education and in a competitive workforce, the U.S. Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Department of Education, has established Youth CareerConnect grant.  This initiative encourages America’s school districts, institutions of higher education, the workforce investment system, and their partners to integrate rigorous educational standards with work experiences and skills in ways that enhance instruction and deliver real-world learning opportunities for students. Across the country, 24 Youth CareerConnect awards will provide $107 million to local partnerships of local education agencies, workforce investment boards, institutions of higher education and employer partners as they re-design the teaching and learning experience for youth to more fully prepare them with the knowledge, skills, and industry-relevant education needed to get on the pathway to a successful career, including postsecondary education or registered apprenticeship.

Youth CareerConnect schools will strengthen America’s talent pipeline by supporting stronger high school, postsecondary, workforce investment system, and employer partnerships that deliver:

  • Robust Employer Engagement & Work-Based Learning: Youth CareerConnect awards will provide students with the education and training that combines rigorous academic and career-focused curriculum to increase students’ employability skills. Employer partners will provide work-based learning, job-shadowing, and mentoring opportunities to ensure students’ learning is relevant.
  • A Focus on High-Demand Industries, Including STEM:  Youth CareerConnect awards will create a pathway for students to enter high-demand industries such as information technology, healthcare, and other STEM-related and manufacturing fields. Grantees will ensure recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups including girls and minorities to expand the talent pool for these high-demand occupations.
  • Integration of Post-secondary Education and Training: Youth CareerConnect awards will enable high school students to participate in education and training that leads to credit toward a post-secondary degree or certificate and an industry recognized credential, where appropriate.

Recipients of Today’s CareerConnect (YCC) Grants

Today, President Obama will visit Bladensburg High School, one of three high schools included in the Prince George’s County - Youth CareerConnect Program (PGC-YCCP) which is being awarded $7 million. Bladensburg offers several career academies with high school curricula aligned with college-level entrance requirements for Maryland’s state university system. Through a collaborative effort with community partners, the school will expand the capacity of its Health & Biosciences Academy to better prepare more students for one of the region’s highest growth industries. Students at Bladensburg who concentrate in health professions will be able to earn industry-recognized certifications in the fields of nursing and pharmacy; biomedical students will earn college credit from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Through the YCC grant program, students will have access to individualized career and college counseling designed to improve the attainment of industry-recognized credentials and preparation for college-level course work. Students will also have the ability to receive postsecondary credit while still in high school and will have access to paid work experiences with employer partners such as Lockheed Martin. Overall, the PGC-YCCP will help prepare 2,500 graduates at Bladensburg and other schools across the county to succeed academically and graduate career-ready in the high-demand fields of information technology and health care.

Additional Youth CareerConnect (YCC) Grant recipients include the following:

  • The Los Angeles Unified School District is receiving a $7 million grant to build out new career academies in six high schools that will focus on healthcare, biotechnology, and other technology-related industries. The program is backed by funding from the Irvine Foundation. The United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the workforce investment system, and the Chamber of Commerce will help provide work-based learning opportunities to students, including 10,000 student summer internships.
  • The New York City Department of Education is receiving a nearly $7 million grant to fund two new early college high schools similar to IBM PTECH models that offer associate’s degrees while still in in high school. The grant will alsoexpand diesel mechanic registered apprenticeship to opportunity youth andcreate a dental hygienist apprenticeship in partnership with the Consortium for Worker Education and modify 10 career and technical education programs to offer college credit and counseling.
  • Clinton, South Carolina, is receiving a $6.8 million grant to reshape three high schools to prepare students for skilled jobs in computer science and engineering. Each school will restructure its instructional calendar to expand individual learning time, work with corporate partners to design project-based learning experiences modeled on real-world challenges, and align curricula with Piedmont Technical College and Midlands Technical College so students can earn postsecondary credits and credentials before graduating. 
  • The Metropolitan School District of Pike Township in Indianapolis is receiving a $7 million grant to expand its career academies in advanced manufacturing and logistics, working in partnership with Conexus, an advanced manufacturing collaborative, and EmployIndy to provide work-based learning opportunities. The grantee will also expand STEM academies, working with the National Society of Black Engineers, Women in Technology, and the Indiana Girls Collaborative to ensure these programs are resulting in a more diverse STEM workforce.
  • Jobs for the Future is receiving a $4.9 million grant to expand and implement rigorous and engaging career pathway models that take young people from 9th grade through industry credentials and an associate’s degree in high demand fields. The grant will fund pathways in three regions across Massachusetts, focusing on information technology, advanced manufacturing, and health care. 
  • The Denver School District is also receiving received nearly $7 million to create and expand STEM pathways in eight schools. Students will participate in a paid internship or job shadow and complete a capstone project that demonstrates how they applied the skills and knowledge learned in the classroom to their workplace-based learning experience. Denver will also work with workforce investment partners to provide career fairs and summer industry academies.

Outside Commitments to Support the Youth CareerConnect Model

  • Website  for Information-sharing about  CareerConnect Model Ideas: Applicants will be invited to send their applications to a web site to share information on ideas for redesigning high schools in ways that build and strengthens a greater connection to work and careers – providing additional opportunities for outside funders to make new investments in these models and identify new partners. Hosted by the National Career Academy Coalition and College and Career Academy Support Network and created with funding from PG&E, this website will provide information on both funded and non-funded CareerConnect applications and it will allow interested parties to view applications by industry, occupation, geography, and other descriptors. Organizations committed to using the website to foster progress in redesigning high schools include the Rockefeller Foundation, IBM Foundation, Irvine Foundation, and the National Academy Foundation.
  • Commitments by the Irvine Foundation to Provide Additional Funding to California Winners: Following up on their commitment made for the White House’s College Opportunity Summit in January, the Irvine Foundation is providing additional $1.5 million to the funded California applications from Los Angeles and the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program. The Irvine Foundation is also willing to commit additional funding for any joint efforts among foundations to support a learning community across funded applications.
  • PG&E Commitment to Create Two New Energy Academies: In addition to committing to support the website development, PG&E is creating two new energy academies, one with Arroyo Grande High School, and another with a San Francisco Bay Area school with which they are partnering this year. PG&E will also provide a six-week paid, work-based, learning opportunity for 60-100 students to prepare them for a career in the energy and utility industry. This is a step on their path to investing $1 million in high school redesign efforts by 2016 and increasing the number of New Energy Academy programs by 50 percent, as committed to in the White House college opportunity summit.

Building on Progress

President Obama has encouraged all Americans to commit at least one year to higher education or career training and has set the ambitious goal that America will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. Yet today, nearly one in in five students  in America fails to graduate from high school on time and many of the students who graduate have not been adequately prepared to succeed in college and the workforce. Today’s announcement of the Youth CareerConnect grant recognizes that many local districts and school leaders, as well as many of their national and local workforce partners, have been working together to provide these workplace relevant opportunities for students for quite some time, and it builds off of the collective experiences of these local partnerships. Further, this program complements additional proposals in the President’s 2015 budget to ensure that all high school students graduate ready for college and career success and to help America once again lead the world in college attainment:

  • High School Redesign ($150 million).  The President’s budget supports a new competition at the U.S. Department of Education to support school districts and their partners as they transform high schools in innovative ways that better prepare students for college and career success. The new program will ensure that all students graduate from high school with college credit and career-related experiences or competencies, obtained through project or problem-based learning, real-world challenges, and organized internships and mentorships. Under this program, grantees would work to: (1) align academic content and instructional practices more closely with postsecondary education and careers; (2) personalize learning opportunities to support the educational needs and interests of students; (3) provide academic and wrap-around support services for those students who need them; (4) make available high-quality career and college exploration and counseling options for students after high school graduation; (5) offer multiple opportunities to earn postsecondary credit while still in high school; and (6) strategically use learning time in more meaningful ways, such as through technology, a redesigned school day or calendar, or competency-based progressions.
  • Reauthorized Perkins Career and Technical Education program ($1.1 billion).  The President’s budget also supports a reauthorized Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act The Administration blueprint for Perkins reauthorization proposal would strengthen alignment among secondary and postsecondary CTE programs and business and industry; create a better accountability system for improving academic outcomes, technical skills, and employability outcomes; and provide competitive funding to promote innovation and reform in CTE.

Full List of CareerConnect Grant Recipients

Pima County, Tucson, AZ, $5,351,690
East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program, West Covina, CA $4,499,251
Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, CA $7,000,000
School District No. 1 in the City and County of Denver, Denver, CO $6,999,980
Putnam County Board of Education, Eatonton, GA $2,418,343
Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission, Postville, IA $2,784,360
Manufacturing Renaissance, Chicago, IL $2,670,909
Metropolitan School District of Pike Township, Indianapolis, IN    $7,000,000
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Kokomo, IN $3,273,878
Kentucky Educational Development Corporation, Ashland, KY $5,520,019
Jobs for the Future, Inc., Boston, MA $4,867,815
Prince George`s County Economic Development Corporation, Largo, MD $7,000,000
Independent School District 196, Rosemount, MN $2,990,026
Independent School District #625, St. Paul, MN $3,680,658
Anson County Schools, Wadesboro, NC $2,247,373
Westside Community Schools, Omaha, NE $2,647,212
Board of Education, Buffalo NY, Buffalo, NY $3,898,700
New York City Department of Education, New York, NY $6,999,601
Toledo Public Schools, Toledo, OH $3,824,281
Academia de Directores Medicos de Puerto Rico, Inc., San Juan, PR $2,842,834
Laurens County School District 56, Clinton, SC $6,890,232
Bradley County School District, Cleveland, TN $4,499,121
Colorado City Independent School District, Colorado City, TX $3,482,704
Galveston Independent School District, Galveston, TX $3,975,000

 

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 06, 2014

Statement by the President on the 20th Commemoration of the Genocide in Rwanda

We join with the people of Rwanda in marking twenty years since the beginning of the genocide that took the lives of so many innocents and which shook the conscience of the world.  We honor the memory of the more than 800,000 men, women and children who were senselessly slaughtered simply because of who they were or what they believed.  We stand in awe of their families, who have summoned the courage to carry on, and the survivors, who have worked through their wounds to rebuild their lives.  And we salute the determination of the Rwandans who have made important progress toward healing old wounds, unleashing the economic growth that lifts people from poverty, and contributing to peacekeeping missions around the world to spare others the pain they have known.  

At this moment of reflection, we also remember that the Rwandan genocide was neither an accident nor unavoidable.  It was a deliberate and systematic effort by human beings to destroy other human beings.  The horrific events of those 100 days—when friend turned against friend, and neighbor against neighbor—compel us to resist our worst instincts, just as the courage of those who risked their lives to save others reminds us of our obligations to our fellow man.  The genocide we remember today—and the world’s failure to respond more quickly—reminds us that we always have a choice.  In the face of hatred, we must remember the humanity we share.  In the face of cruelty, we must choose compassion.  In the face of intolerance and suffering, we must never be indifferent.  Embracing this spirit, as nations and as individuals, is how we can honor all those who were lost two decades ago and build a future worthy of their lives.