Great Decisions #6: U.S. Relations with the Northern Triangle

Join the World Affairs Council of Maine as we explore the Foreign Policy Association’s 2020 Great Decisions. 

Session #6: Combatting illegal immigration has become a priority of the Trump administration. The Northern Triangle of Central America, made up of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, is a special target of the administration, which hold the nations responsible for the large flow of migrants from Latin America to the U.S. With funds from the U.S. cut, how can the Northern Triangle countries curtail migration?

What is Great Decisions? Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions is this country’s largest discussion program on world affairs. For over twenty years, our Council has brought these Great Decisions to the state of Maine. We’ve provided hundreds of hours of discussion to members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Southern Maine and hosted numerous dinner discussion groups across southern Maine. Click here for more information on our Great Decisions program.

What will each session look like? Prior to each session, participants will receive suggested readings and a link to the 25-min. Great Decisions television series episode on the session topic. Participants are encouraged to review the materials, however, pre-work is not required in order to enjoy the virtual conversation.  

Each virtual session will last 75 minutes. Your facilitator will begin the session with a brief presentation on the topic. Participants will then be split into virtual breakout rooms of 12 or fewer participants. Each breakout room will have a facilitator to help move the conversation along and ensure that everyone who is interested is able to participate in the discussion. Discussion questions will be provided to all registered attendees. 

I’ve never used Zoom. How will I know what to do? Virtual programming is new to most of us. We’re all learning together! We will send instructions on how to download Zoom to your device, as well as suggested settings to improve your Zoom experience. We will review Zoom functions at the start of each session and help members to troubleshoot. We can’t promise a flawless experience, but let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good! 

We recommend you review our WACM Zoom user document before your first session. 

What does this cost? In this time of economic uncertainty we have adopted a “pay what you can” structure for our virtual programming. Please register at a level that is right for you ($0-$15). 

Become a Great Decisions Series Sponsor! The lengthy suspension of our in-person programs greatly impacts the revenue that supports our work. For those able and interested, we created a $50 Great Decisions series sponsor ticket. This one-time gift will support our full 6-session series. Sponsorship can be made in your name(s) or in honor/memory of someone. All sponsors will be recognized at the start of each of the six sessions. Please purchase your series sponsor $50 ticket for the first session you are interested in attending. You can then sign up for any subsequent sessions by choosing the "Pay what you can $0" ticket. 

IMPORTANT: Please register for each device being used to attend the webinar. For example, if you and a family member will be attending on one computer, only one registration is necessary. Alternatively, if you each will be using your own devices to attend, please register separately. This will ensure that each attendee is placed in a breakout room for the discussion portion of the webinar. 

About this week's facilitator:

Julie Nye is an Underwriting Manager, Senior Consultant at Metlife. Prior to that, she was a Director of Global Health Benefits at Unum. Julie has held a variety of roles at Unum since 1993, predominantly in the international insurance area. Julie is also an independent consultant on international insurance matters, including a research project on Brexit and its expected impact on the insurance industry for the Society of Actuaries. She earned her BA (French and German) in 1993 and MBA in 2001 from the University of St. Andrews and the University of Southern Maine. Originally a native and citizen of the United Kingdom, Julie has lived in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.