Region 9 of the IEEE Signal Processing Society has seen a lot of new activity recently. Since late 2010, four new chapters have been created in Brazil (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Southern Brazil and Brasília). The chapter in Colombia is a few years older, and there are also chapters in Argentina, Guadalajara and Western Puerto Rico. This means that we can expect much action in the region: seminars, Distinguished Lecturer (DL) tours, conferences and other opportunities for learning and networking. Given our large distance from northern countries, we are joining together to organize DL tours, which will reduce costs and increase the number of Distinguished Lecturers that can visit our region. This will also allow us to get to know each other better: we often do not know about the excellent work being done by our closest neighbors. I encourage everyone to join in and aid this effort: contact your local chapter to learn what is going on, make suggestions for new activities or new events, volunteer your help (there are plenty of opportunities) or form a new chapter in your area! Contact information about chapters can be found here: http://www.signalprocessingsociety.org/community/chapters/ I would like to hear your ideas and opinions - please write to me at vitor AT ieee.org. Also, if you have any news you would like to share with the community, let me know.