Center projects are supported through funding from external donors and agencies as well as by University resources. In designing and implementing projects, CLALS establishes dynamic partnerships with academic institutions, think tanks, non-governmental and community organizations, and governmental agencies throughout the United States and Latin America. Below is a list of current and past funders, as well as partners who make the work we do possible.

Funders

American Friends Service Committee

With support from the American Friends Service Committee, CLALS staff prepared a 2011 report on the challenges of reconstruction in Haiti.

Arca Foundation

The Arca Foundation provided support for Past Research Fellow Héctor Silva Ávalos' research on the 1989 Jesuit Massacre and the case's enduring influence on the fortunes of El Salvador's justice system following the 1992 Peace Accords.

Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute at the University of Houston

The Borders, Trade, and Immigration (BTI) Institute at the University of Houston (UH) granted the Center funds to carry out a project assessing the impact of Central American child and family migration on localities across the United States.

Central America and Mexico Migration Alliance (CAMMINA)

With support from the Central America and Mexico Migration Alliance (CAMMINA), CLALS collaborated with the Washington College of Law's Immigrant Justice Clinic and research institutions in Central America to contribute to the ongoing policy debate around Temporary Protected Status for Honduras and El Salvador.

Christopher Reynolds Foundation

From 2011-2016, Christopher Reynolds Foundation provided iterative support for the Center's Cuba Initiative, which focuses on U.S.-Cuba bilateral relations, economic reform, social welfare, and issues in health, agriculture, and the environment. The Foundation has also generously provided funds to the Center's Central American Refugee Policy & Assistance Project (CARPA).

DC Planning Office

As a part of the Center's DC-Metro Latino Research Initiative, CLALS received funding from the District of Columbia Office of Planning to host a workshop on neighborhood demographic change in DC as it affects Latino and African American communities.

Department of State

The U.S. Department of State has funded four CLALS projects undertaken in partnership with InSight Crime: a completed study of clandestine wildlife trafficking and logging industries in Latin America; a completed analysis of transnational criminal networks and state institutions in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay; an ongoing initiative analyzing and assessing regional transnational crime in the Western Hemisphere, and a current project exploring the impacts of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation has provided renewed support for the Center's research on the legacies and lessons of hybrid anti-impunity missions in Central America. The Foundation has also awarded funds to CLALS to supply pro bono lawyers and other advocates with the accurate, up-to-date evidence needed to effectively represent unaccompanied minors from Central America as they navigate the U.S. immigration system. Previous work supported by Ford includes a research program assessing the role of Central American elites and a project on participatory democracy in Latin America, which was carried out through a grant to the University of British Columbia's Andean Democracy Research Network.

Henry Luce Foundation

The Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion in International Affairs has provided $300,000 in renewed support for CLALS to undertake a three-year initiative to better understand the responses of religious actors and ideas to environmentally-induced migration and displacement in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Foundation also funded three prior phases of research: one examining religious responses to violence in Latin America, a second on religion and democratic contestation in the region, and a third on religion and climate change in cross-regional perspective.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) is providing support for two CLALS research projects: one to assess the cumulative effects of U.S. engagement in Uruguay and Chile, and another aimed at illuminating China’s efforts to shape perceptions of its role in Latin America and the Caribbean. Both projects are funded through cooperative agreements between IWPR and the U.S. Department of State.

Inter-American Development Bank

The Inter-American Development Bank's Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness provided support for the Center's work on emergent challenges in Latin American and Caribbean economies, carried out in collaboration with the Corporación de Estudios para Latinoamérica (CIEPLAN).

International Development Research Centre

The International Development Research Centre provides support for a CLALS research initiative, in collaboration with FLACSO-Costa Rica, on economic opportunities for vulnerable young women in Latin America. FLACSO-Costa Rica previously subcontracted CLALS to carry out research on and disseminate findings from the IDRC-funded multi-year project Exclusion and Violence in Central American Cities. 

National Institute of Justice

The National Institute of Justice awarded CLALS a $670,000 grant to carry out research aimed at assessing the transnational criminal capacity of the MS-13 gang in the U.S. and El Salvador.

National Science Foundation

CLALS was awarded an NSF conference grant to convene a January 2017 workshop to advance understanding of how social science research can inform judicial decision-making on asylum cases involving Central American children and families.

Open Society Foundations

The Open Society Foundations have provided renewed support for the Center's research on the legacies and lessons of hybrid anti-impunity missions in Central America. Previous OSF-funded research analyzed the work of the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH) and the prospects for an International Commission against Impunity in El Salvador (CICIES). The Open Society Foundations have also provided support for InSight Crime, the AULA Blog, and research conducted by CLALS Research Fellows on corruption and the police in El Salvador.

Seattle International Foundation

The Seattle International Foundation has partnered with the Ford and Open Society Foundations to fund a CLALS project analyzing the legacies and lessons of hybrid anti-impunity missions in Central America.

Tinker Foundation

The Tinker Foundation has awarded CLALS funds to support graduate student research in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Partners

Academic Institutions

Building on the breadth and depth of faculty expertise on Latin American and Latino Studies at American University, CLALS has also reached beyond campus to engage scholars from the following academic institutions, including universities and research institutes in Latin America:

• CLALS is collaborating with the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, to advance efforts to support fair adjudication of asylum claims for applicants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
• The Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) has participated in the Robert A. Pastor North America Research Initiative (NARI) as a host for the initiative's second workshop in Mexico City.
• The Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales-Costa Rica (FLACSO-Costa Rica) works with CLALS on the current Vidas Sitiadas research initiative. It previously collaborated with CLALS on its Ford Foundation-funded work on Elites and Power in Central America and continues to engage Center work on migration and on relations between the U.S. and Central America. 
• The Center is collaborating with the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales-Honduras (FLACSO-Honduras) to host an event as part of its work examining the lessons and legacies of anti-impunity missions in Central America.
• The Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies-St. Augustine hosted and co-sponsored the third workshop of the Religion & Climate Change in Cross-Regional Perspective project, with a focus on "Small Island Vulnerabilities in the Pacific and Caribbean."
• CLALS has partnered with the Instituto Brasiliense de Direito Público (IDP) to facilitate a training program for their students in at AU. 
• The Instituto Nacional de Estudos Sobre os Estados Unidos (INCT/INEU) was a contributor to the Hemisphere in Flux project.

• The Instituto de Relações Internacionais (IREL) at the Universidade de Brasília co-hosted a workshop as part of the Center's project on Religion & Environmentally-Induced Displacement, which focused on the normative and legal landscape of this topic.

• The Center partnered with the Latin America in a Globalizing World Initiative at Johns Hopkins University to convene a research colloquium on Latin America’s place in the International Liberal Order.

• The Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies (MACLAS) selected CLALS to sponsor the MACLAS annual conference in 2012.
• CLALS is providing ongoing technical and capacity-building support to the Universidad de Oriente (UNIVO) in San Miguel, El Salvador, as it establishes the Center of Research for Democracy. 
• The Universidad Antonio Ruíz de Montoya in Lima, Peru hosted a workshop on "Mountains and Implications of Glacial Melt in the Himalaya and Andes" as part of the Luce Foundation-funded project on Religion & Climate Change in Cross-Regional Perspective.
• CLALS collaborated with the University of British Columbia's Andean Democracy Research Network on a project examining mechanisms of direct participation in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Uruguay. The project concluded with the edited volume, New Institutions of Participatory Democracy in Latin America: Voice and Consequence.
• CLALS works closely with the Universidad de la Habana to coordinate projects under the Center's Cuba Initiative.
• The Universidad Rafael Landívar contributed as a research partner to the project on Elites and Power in Central America and co-hosted the project's February 2012 conference in Guatemala.
• The Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (UNITEC) partnered with CLALS to host an event in June 2018 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to launch a report on the successes and challenges facing the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH).

Non-Governmental Organizations, Community Organizations & Think-Tanks

CLALS serves as an academic resource for civil society organizations working to expand understanding, raise awareness, change policies, and provide services. CLALS partners with the following diverse think-tanks, NGOs, and professional associations in the DC metro area and beyond:

• CLALS partnered with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) to convene a February 2020 symposium, "In Children's Best Interests: Advancing a Fundamental Standard for the Treatment of Immigrant Children."

• As part of its work on Latino entrepreneurship in the DC metropolitan area, CLALS partnered with BizLaunch, an entrepreneurial assistance network located in Northern Virginia.
• The Broward County Cultural Division partnered with CLALS to assess the impact of creative and cultural industries on the future of Latin America's economy.
• The Centro de Estudios Sobre Crimen Organizado Transnacional (CeCot) hosted a meeting of principal investigators and researchers in La Plata, Argentina in March 2020, as part of the Center's State Department-funded project on Transnational Criminal Organizations in Brazil and the Southern Cone. 
• CentroNía, CLALS, and AU's School of Education(SOE) performed an in-depth evaluation of how CentroNía, a cultural and arts-based after-school program, affects Latino youth.
• The Coordinadora Regional de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales (CRIES) collaborated with CLALS on the Hemisphere in Flux project.
• The Corporación de Estudios para Latinoamérica (CIEPLAN) collaborated with CLALS on a research project examining emergent issues and challenges in Latin American and Caribbean economies.
• Together with the Kogod School of Business, CLALS is working with the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to advance the data landscape for Latino entrepreneurs and businesses.
• The Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales (ICEFI) served as a key partner on the Elites and Power in Central America project and is routinely engaged in Center research on migration and anti-impunity efforts in Central America.
• The Inter-American Development Bank's Culture, Creativity, and Solidarity Affairs Division partnered with CLALS to assess the impact of creative and cultural industries on Latin America's economy. In addition, the IDB's Research Department partnered with CLALS to disseminate information about the middle-income trap in Latin America.
• The Inter-American Dialogue regularly hosts events with CLALS to present research findings and draw attention to important issues facing the hemisphere.
• The Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC), in coordination with CLALS and the Kogod School of Business, assisted in an initial phase of research examining Latino entrepreneurs in the DC Metro area.
• The Mexican Ministry for Culture, in cooperation with the Mexican Cultural Institute, partnered with CLALS to bring leading Mexican artists to deliver formal presentations and meet with faculty and students at AU.
• UnidosUS (formerly known as National Council of La Raza) and CLALS partnered to explore the dynamics of discrimination against Latinos.
• The Observer Research Foundation co-sponsored a workshop in Delhi, India for the Luce Foundation-funded project on religion and climate change in cross-regional perspective.
• The Programa Salvadoreño de Investigación sobre Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente (PRISMA) collaborated with CLALS on its Ford Foundation-funded work on Elites and Power in Central America.
• CLALS partners with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to explore the role of journalism in the intersections of religion and climate conflict in Latin America.
• Sister Cities International partnered with the Center to host an event on climate diplomacy in small island developing states, as a part of the Center's work on religion and climate change.
• CLALS partnered with the Cuba Program at the Social Science Research Council to produce the web forum "Implications of Normalization: Scholarly Perspectives on U.S.-Cuban Relations."
• As part of its project on religion and environmentally-induced displacement, CLALS has partnered with the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA) to co-sponsor a workshop in Brasilia, Brazil, on normative and legal frameworks addressing this regional issue. 
• CLALS partners with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to provide their newly-appointed representatives in Latin American and the Caribbean with country briefings. 
• The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) partnered with CLALS to present findings from Center projects on Social Exclusion & Violence in Central America and Elites and Power in the region. WOLA is also engaged with ongoing work related to the Cuba Initiative.
• The Wilson Center collaborated with CLALS to present findings from Center projects on religion and violence in Latin America and social exclusion and violence in Central America. The Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program also engaged with the Center's project on religion and climate change around issues of climate diplomacy.