Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Esther\u00a0Kia\u2019aina today announced $500,000 in grant assistance under the Office of Insular Affairs\u2019\u00a0Technical Assistance Program to the U.S. Virgin Islands Centennial Commission as it prepares\u00a0to organize events and activities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the transfer of the Virgin\u00a0Islands from Denmark to the United States on March 31, 1917.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased to support Governor Kenneth Mapp, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, the\u00a0members of the Centennial Commission and the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands as they plan\u00a0their celebration of this significant milestone in the history of U.S.-Virgin Islands relations,\u201d said\u00a0Assistant Secretary Kia\u2019aina. \u201cThe next two years leading up to the actual Centennial\u00a0Celebration presents a host of opportunities to showcase their rich history and heritage as well as
\nthe future of the Virgin Islands.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Virgin Islands Transfer Centennial Commemoration will be a territory-wide, multi-year\u00a0observation with events and activities beginning in 2015 through December 2017. The\u00a0Centennial will be marketed to local, national and international visitors and is expected to\u00a0generate short- and long-term lasting impacts on the territory\u2019s economy, stature and reputation.\u00a0The Commemoration will be used to build and reinforce local, state, national and global
\nconnections.<\/p>\n
Official events on St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John will range from parades, sporting events,\u00a0concerts, and multi-cultural celebrations to exhibitions and festivals featuring local art, dance and\u00a0food. The program and activities are organized to highlight the continuum of historical events\u00a0from the Pre-Columbian Period and Indigenous Inhabitants to Columbus and Early European\u00a0Arrival, Settlement of the Danish West Indies, Forced Migration of Africans, and the Transfer to\u00a0the United States, leading to the present day where the U.S. Virgin Islands are proud to be a U.S.\u00a0territory and her people citizens of the United States.<\/p>\n
The Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas carries out the administrative responsibilities of the\u00a0Secretary of the Interior in coordinating federal policy for the territories of American Samoa,\u00a0Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and\u00a0administering and overseeing U.S. federal assistance to the Freely Associated States of the\u00a0Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau\u00a0under the Compacts of Free Association. The Assistant Secretary executes these responsibilities<\/em> Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Esther\u00a0Kia\u2019aina today announced $500,000 in grant assistance under the Office of Insular Affairs\u2019\u00a0Technical Assistance Program to the U.S. Virgin Islands Centennial Commission as it prepares\u00a0to organize events and activities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the transfer of the Virgin\u00a0Islands from Denmark to the United States on March 31, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,11,191,2474,147],"tags":[2691,2690],"yoast_head":"\n
\n through the Office of Insular Affairs.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"