Awards Celebrate Bi-National 'Success Stories'

ENSENADA, B.C.—The Awards for U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and Innovation will be formally presented on Thursday, September 29, at the Border Governors Conference in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

In their inaugural year, the Awards honor "success stories" in local and state collaboration between the United States and Mexico. Winners include government agencies, non-profits, and institutions that deeply engage regional stakeholders and enhance the lives of residents on both sides of the border. Winners for 2011 come from the fields of health and medicine, art and culture, infrastructure planning, and educational exchange, representing seven of the U.S.-Mexico border states. They are:

• The El Paso Museum of Art and the Ciudad Juárez Museo de Arte:
  “A Cultural Crossroads for the United States and Mexico”
  (Texas-Chihuahua-New Mexico)

• Secretaría de Infraestructura y Desarrollo Urbano, Estado de Baja California and California Department of Transportation, District 11 (San Diego):
  “The California-Baja California Border Master Plan”
  (California-Baja California)

• Proyecto Bio-Regional de Educación Ambiental, A.C., and Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental, A.C.:
  “Environmental Education without Borders”
  (California-Baja California)

• Arizona Model United Nations:
  “Regional Cooperation through Global Education”
  (Arizona-Sonora)

The Awards are sponsored by the Border Research Partnership, made up of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Mexico Institute, and the North American Center for Transborder Studies at Arizona State University, with funding from the Council of State Governments-West and the United States Agency for International Development. The winners were selected by an independent bi-national selection committee. For more information, please visit the Awards website at www.colef.mx/premioinnovacion and www.wilsoncenter.org/mexico.