DEREE’s partnership with the Libra Group in 2011 helped to bring about DEREE’s International Internship & Study Abroad Program (IISAP), which includes the Libra Internship Program. The Libra Internship Program originally began as an initiative to provide opportunity for Greek communities and Greece in the midst of economic turmoil. Since then, it has become truly global and now embraces a number of educational institutions worldwide. Libra welcomes up to 100 interns per annum and to date around a quarter of those have been DEREE students, all interning with Libra and its subsidiaries around the world.

The Libra Group’s recent partnership with Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, ‘LEDA’, allowed for a new source of talent and the honor of being one of the first organizations to fulfill President Obama’s call to action under the ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative; a program which seeks to help young men of color throughout the USA reach their full potential with education and workplace opportunity being two key spurs in this.

At the end of this summer, past and current Libra Interns were given the chance to meet White House officials. DEREE faculty, staff, and intern alumni from DEREE had the chance to participate in a round table meeting with Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the White House, Maurice Owens, who himself testified to the power of education and mentors in life along with the power in outreach programs such as this one. Only weeks later, Carla Brillembourg-Clark, Director of Libra’s Educational Programs, and 10 intern alumni, including DEREE-Libra Intern alumni, had the high honor of meeting the President of the United States, Barack Obama himself, showing that Libra programs continue to scale new heights and reach for ever-greater goals.

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