2018 annual report

ANNUAL REPORT 2018

01

Message from the Executive Director Dear Friends, Thank you! In 2018 Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción grew and adapted to Puerto Rico's circumstances after Hurricane María. We created new programs to advance our mission, saw our community grow and increased our partnerships with other NGOs and communities. We are extremely grateful for your support, which is why we share our achievements in detail with you in this report.

In accordance with our mission, we embarked on a process of activating agents of change for the recovery processes after the hurricane. All of our projects in 2018 focused on building a response strategy through civic action and citizen participation.

The year began with the continuation of our hurricane response brigades. In 2018 we mobilized 386 volunteers through 41 brigades in 10 municipalities, contributing 4,649 hours of work. These figures add up to the great contribution made by citizens in the first three months after Hurricane Maria.

During the summer we innovated our programs. Impacto Juvenil was transformed into "Mentes Pa'l Cambio" (Minds for Change) in alliance with our partners at the Puerto Rico Institute of Civil Engineers. Meanwhile we adapted our PARACa social action internship model to meet the needs of four community projects following Hurricane Maria.

For the first time in our history, we continued our summer efforts during the academic semester through working groups and community facilitation, adopting two new public interest initiatives. #EnAcción became our civic engagement program with the main purpose of involving students in ongoing projects during the year.

Together, along with the team at Demente Productions, we documented four stories of the recovery projects in the documentary "Parada 78", while our campaign "Agents of Change" exposed the stories of young citizens who lead social initiatives in Puerto Rico.

MPA was born as an initiative for youth to join action spaces and to find solutions to Puerto Rico's most pressing issues. In 2019, 10 years after incorporating MPA, we are determined to become more relevant than ever, strengthen our mission and design our new strategic plan.

Join us in making your life project a project for Puerto Rico.

Alejandro Silva Díaz Executive Director

02

Message from the Board of Directors Dear Friends, Action. If I had to describe 2018 for Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción in one word, I would use the word "action". Since day one, we have always focused our programs, initiatives and impact on action. Our goal is that our projects and philosophy transmit a new way of approaching social change that translates into impact for those we serve.

For almost 10 years, we have contributed to the formation of agents of change. This work results in a great impact for Puerto Rico, being that these agents of change have stood out as the proponents of effective action at a professional, social, and personal level.

Our community of agents of change is active, committed, and passionate. Through our programs and initiatives we integrate three pillars that distinguish an agent of change from a leader: sensibility, awareness and effectiveness.

As an organization, MPA has stood out for giving peers the necessary tools to be sensible, aware, and effective when engaging in social initiatives in Puerto Rico. Today, looking back, I'm proud to say that this model has transcended our participants. Through action, partner organizations, communities, educational institutions, and even our diaspora have been inspired to incorporate this philosophy into their impact strategies.

Like all NGOs after hurricane Maria, we felt the weight of the recovery process on our shoulders.

We saw the urgency to respond, assist, and act. We reinvented our strategy to provide our support where and when needed. In this report you will see the results of our civic engagement approach as an innovative impact strategy.

I am infinitely grateful for the work of the Executive Team. Their passion and commitment to what they do every day is admirable. Thanks to the Board of Directors, the Advisory Board and all the people who in one way or another have made possible all the achievements you will see below.

I trust that 2019 will be even better, because through our programs Puerto Rico will have a greater number of Change Agents that will focus their initiatives on action.

Carolina Martinez Prohías Chairwoman

Board of Directors 2018: Carolina Martínez Prohías, President Alan Taveras Sepúlveda, MBA ,Vice President Rauluy Santos Collado, CPA, Treasurer Cristina Salazar Piñeiro, MPA, Secretary Aníbal López Correa, M.Ed, Carlos J. Acosta Vega, MBA Christian Arvelo Forteza, MPA

Carlos García Miranda, Esq Giancarlo Colberg Ferrer, Esq Josué McGrath Rosario Dr. Paula Latortue Albino Michelle Quiles Montalvo, Esq Nayda Bobonis Cabrera, Esq William Sewell Fernández, Esq *Based on BoD's elected officials terms from Nov 2017 to Nov 2018

03

Response to Hurricane MarĂ­a In response to the public's interest in contributing after the hurricane as well as our trajectory of convening, training and activating volunteers for the last seven years, we organized a civic engagement and citizen action response strategy. We created a model to support in civic and community rehabilitation work throughout the country.

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2

First Phase (2017) The immediate response to the emergency focused on three elements: cleaning and debris collection brigades, registration of people without communication, community census and needs assessments.

Second Phase In order to achieve self-sustainability for our communities, we connected groups of volunteers with community reconstruction projects. This phase aimed to strengthen the culture of civic action.

Third Phase

3

We matched our participants with adopted communities and recovery projects. They worked on sustainable projects in 4 communities and non-profit organizations.

Fiscal Sponsorship As of April 2018 we signed a collaboration agreement with Sol es VIDA to support the reconstruction of the Villas del Sol community in Toa Baja. The results were: Installation of solar posts Road filling and pavement Construction of 6 houses Reconstruction of 3 ceilings Acquisition of temporary housing unit

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41

Volunteer brigades

386 Active volunteers

10

Municipalities

4,649 Work hours

Brigades

34

Debris free spaces

11

Painted houses

05

#EnAcciรณn 2018 During the summer, we innovated our PARACa social action internship program using citizen participation as a strategy response to the most vulnerable communities' needs after hurricane Maria. This is how #EnAcciรณn came about.

9

18

Sustainable community projects Participants matched with communities

3,115 Volunteer work hours 1,076 Field experience and capacity building hours

4

Diaspora youth integrated in these community projects

06

#EnAcciĂłn 2018 Juana Matos Community, CataĂąo Completed projects: Mangrove reforestation for flood mitigation Water quality study Ecotourism project

574

Hours contributed as a team.

07

#EnAcciรณn 2018 Villas del Sol Community, Toa Baja Completed projects: Hydroponic system Community census Fruit trees plantation Community mural

945

Hours contributed as a team.

08

#EnAcciรณn 2018 Reforestation project: Habitat Completed projects: Urban reforestation

863.5

Hours contributed as a team.

09

#EnAcciรณn 2018 Community Project: Electric Power Oasis Completed projects: Community Electric Power Oasis Research

760

Hours contributed as a team.

10

#EnAcción After #EnAcción's success in the summer, we extended the program to give continuity to the community projects and adopt new public interest initiatives with a commitment of at least one year.

14

Volunteers committed with Puerto Rico's communities and social projects.

33

Impacted communities.

4

Sustainable projects.

Completed projects:

Skills and assets surveys in Río Piedras urban center Coordination of recreational and mental health activities in the Villa Calma community Coordination of tutoring program and recreational activities for young people in the ACUTAS Community Center Community Garden in the Villa Calma community

11

University Guidance and Development Program (PADU) Our university mentoring and guidance program was carried out in partnership with EDP University, covering their 5 academic units in Villalba, San GermĂĄn, Hato Rey, Humacao and ManatĂ­.

15

students from EDP University's 5 academic units.

272

Contact hours.

64%

referred to one or more potential mentors within their field of study.

74%

advised about organizations that offer capacity building in their areas of interest.

received information of at least one 100% scholarship opportunity.

12

Minds for Change (MPC) Our pre-university mentoring and orientation program (formerly known as Impacto Juvenil) was conducted in partnership with the Puerto Rico Institute of Civil Engineers and ACE Mentors. The program seeks to train students about social impact through engineering and architecture.

20

high school level participants

45%

students from low income backgrounds sponsored

7

young women participated in the STEM project.

1,892

26

contact hours

STEM professional speakers and resources

13

Minds for Change (MPC) 100%

92%

increased knowledge about college life

100%

feel more confident in planning their college career future

acquired new knowledge about architecture and engineering

53.8%

are sure they will study architecture or engineering

14

2018 Events 11

398

Events Workshop: Social Media Strategies for NGOs Forum: Green Conversation Information session for NGOs CafĂŠ Conciencia: Let's talk about Gentrification Leadership workshops (7)

People attended

15

Documentary: "Parada 78" In collaboration with Demente Productions we documented the work completed in #EnAcciรณn2018.

6 100 4

college students led the production and filming process people assisted to the premiere

community stories documented Watch Documentary in Youtube

16

Social Campaign: Agents of Change This campaign unveiled the stories of Puerto Ricans advancing social causes, making them agents of change. The main objective was to motivate citizens to create or engage in change initiatives for Puerto Rico.

80

Printed shirts

6

documented stories

13,216 Visits on social media

Stories Gender Equality

Villas del Sol Community

Colective Perspective

Deaf Community

Small Community Business

Music Education

17

Memory Project After Hurricane Maria we collaborated with "The Memory Project", a non-profit organization that, for 12 years, has organized young artists in Wisconsin to create portraits for thousands of children. MPA supported in the identification of schools and the distribution of portraits in Puerto Rico.

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294

Schools served Segunda Unidad Bayamoncito, Aguas Buenas.

Centro Tau, LoĂ­za.

NiĂąo de Nueva Esperanza, Toa Baja.

Children served

View video on YouTube

18

Representing Youth in Puerto Rico For the 5th consecutive year, we coordinated the students module at the Mega Viernes Civil, the Puerto Rico Institute of Civil Engineers's Annual Summit

79

Students trained

Due to our work in response to Hurricane Maria, our President Carolina Martinez Prohías was invited as a panelist to the Forum: "Puerto Rico after María: answers and alternatives" by the Ana G. Méndez University, as well as to the Forum: "Women Committed to Puerto Rico" by the Puerto Rico Cooperatives League's Gender Committee.

Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción Social Innovation and Collaboration Community #167 Ave Ponce de León San Juan, PR 00917 PO BOX 30518 San Juan, PR 00929 correo@mentespuertorriquenas.org www.mentespuertorriquenas.org

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