Four years after the emergency that accelerated a political crisis, we continue to resist, connect, and co-build a dignified life

At María Fund, we are clear that we must undo centuries of scarcity, control, violence, and trauma caused by colonialism that have displaced us generation after generation. In the last two decades, in particular, we have faced consecutive tides of political, social, and economic displacement that seek to strip us of even more power, self-determination, and justice. The public debt, PROMESA, the Fiscal Control Board, and Hurricane María, marked a before and after for many. Austerity in the form of layoffs, budget cuts, and privatizations has forced thousands of people to leave and the precariousness of those who remain. Gender-based violence is a growing pandemic that disproportionately affects women and LGBTQIAPNB+ folks.

Four years ago, a climate emergency accelerated and revealed this political crisis more quickly. We know that the disaster is still political... but we believe that it is possible to build together a future of a dignified life for all.

We support REDES (networks) and connect to co-build, heal, and move towards a Puerto Rico where we are able to have interdependent relationships with one other and with the rest of the world.

REDES is a series of stories about the victories, achievements, and impact of the organizations allied to María Fund during 2021 and the past years. Our goal is to be more visible, to be bigger, to be stronger. Our goal is that by seeing how our stories connect, we can also see how we win more when we come together and fly together. Our goal is for our stories to be one: a story of national and collective liberation.

We want to celebrate and make visible some of the greatest achievements of our partners and allied organizations:

(1) AgitArte

AgitArte is an organization of working-class artists and cultural organizers working within the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ideology. In the past year, the AgitArte Popular Education and Performance Program (PEPP) has supported and developed popular education projects for agitation, which use theater, puppets, visual arts, and music. AgitArte has been building a network of working-class artists, cultural workers, propagandists, and media creators who create art in response to the political moment and provide alternative narratives to the mainstream media that often omit the critical stories and perspectives of the poor and working people. After the January 2021 earthquakes, AgitArte collaborated with the Federation of Teachers for "School without Walls ", The West Solidarity Brigade, and the Camp Against Ashes for the distribution of basic supplies, books, and school supplies. AgitArte has involved in its efforts approximately 5,000 people from different communities and neighborhoods in Santurce, Guánica, Utuado, and Bayamón.

(2) Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico

Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico provides free and accessible legal education and support to low- and middle-income individuals and communities since 2015. In 2021, the organization expanded its mission to provide access to justice and the defense of fundamental rights through legal education, the development of civic capacities, and community legal support for people and communities with low and moderate resources. Their advocacy efforts in defense of housing continues in 2021 with several bills that seek to guarantee a safe roof while an emergency period lasts in the country. “The Rental Assistance” was an achievement of Ayuda Legal. Said program is aimed at those who cannot pay rent due to the impact of the pandemic. The organization got FEMA to recognize the right that people without a formal title to their property have to receive help to repair it. Additionally, they managed to increase the capacity and infrastructure of hundreds of organizations to assume the defense of a just recovery. The passing of the bill that seeks to stop evictions in disasters was achieved in both legislative bodies of the PR government, among other victories.

(3) Campamento Contra Cenizas en Peñuelas, Inc.

Campamento Contra Cenizas en Peñuelas, is a community-based non-profit organization created to eradicate the practice of depositing toxic coal ashes in Peñuelas’ soil and the rest of the country. The organization is also in charge of guiding and organizing communities affected by environmental pollution so that they can monitor, report, and assume the offensive against environmental and health threats. The Camp has impacted over five thousand people during the crisis of the earthquakes in Peñuelas and the South of the Island, and over 500 folks have participated in the activities following the construction of the temporary facilities in 2020. The organization provided services and support in Guánica , Yauco, Guayanilla, and Ponce. During 2020 and 2021, they were also one of the promoters of the initiative called ONE SOLE FIGHT, where groups and sectors that fight to defend natural resources and communities have been integrated, taking their claims to the relevant agencies under a single voice.

(4) Colectivo Ilé

The purpose of Colectivo Ilé is to educate, organize, and research to strengthen anti-racist and decolonizing work that leads to generating changes in community, academic, spiritual, psychosocial, cultural, economic, and political spheres inside and outside of Puerto Rico. Colectivo Ilé and Revista Étnica, in collaboration with María Fund, launched an anti-racist political education and training school for young people in January 2021. As part of the process, 50 young people are meeting virtually every Saturday, from January to September 2021, to discuss and understand different forms of racism, how to identify it and implement strategies to confront it, to learn about communication skills, storytelling, and artivism in the racial justice movements, and to develop a healthy racial identity that strengthens and affirms their own identity. Additionally, media and educational campaigns were launched, such as “De Cara al Censo 2020: Don’t let them erase you from the census" and others, which seek to make the issue of racism visible, highlight the will for change, show that it is possible to resist the impositions of other people's public policy on cultural reality, affirm a powerful ancestral legacy, deal with the distancing and denial of blackness as well as with internalized racism, among other goals relevant to their political capacity.

(5) Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico

Comedores Sociales de PR seeks to end hunger in Puerto Rico while strengthening a social fabric at the service of lasting social transformations under parameters of solidarity, mutual aid, self-management, and autonomy. Last year, Comedores Sociales organized supply networks with people who in their neighborhoods and sectors became leaders who mobilized to serve their neighbors through the Solidarity Purchases project, from April to September 2020. More than 10,000 purchases were distributed to more than 26,000 people. In addition, the health and wellness clinics were reactivated with protocols during COVID, contributing to the emotional and physical health of the communities that have been affected by confinement and abandonment. Currently, 200 people have used this clinic. Construction also began on the Super Solidario Coop project, a way to turn Solidarity Purchases into a long-term sustainable project, where the food cooperative aims to offer healthy and locally-grown food at affordable prices.


(6) Construyamos Otro Acuerdo

The Construyamos Otro Acuerdo project continued to build power in Puerto Rican communities by working closely and in coalition with the Frente en Defensa de las Pensiones (in defense of pensions), the Frente Ciudadano por la Auditoría de la Deuda (for a citizen audit of the public debt), and the feminist collective Colectiva Feminista en Construcción to recruit, train, and support retirees who have been threatened with cuts to their pensions. The PR legislature passed an unanimous resolution to protect pensions from cuts, opening the door to aggressive debt cancellation as a tool to protect services and workers. Construyamos Otro Acuerdo (COA) began the outreach phase of a new worker-led campaign that will advocate for raising the minimum wage and create the conditions for organizing workers. The work includes: PR legislature passed a unanimous resolution to protect pensions from cuts, which opened the door to aggressive debt cancellation as a tool for protecting services and workers; COA held a historic assembly where 1,000 pension-holders agreed to a resolution to protect pensions, push for debt cancelation, and protect essential services, among other social justice demands; in 2020, for the first time in a decade, the government of Puerto Rico opposed further austerity measures from the Fiscal Control Board and supported efforts to stop pension and service cuts; members of the Fiscal Control Board (known officially as the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board, or FOMB) have publicly opposed pension cuts, which represents a huge shift in their position and puts us one step closer to making sure that pensions are protected; a historic legislation passed through both chambers of the PR legislature unanimously and were signed by the governor to protect pensions and essential services while canceling illegal debt.

(7) Revista Étnica:

Revista Étnica impacted a total of approximately 32,000 people through its social networks and its digital magazine. The printed magazine has a circulation of 1,500 copies per edition. The magazine and social networks have a reach throughout Puerto Rico, the entire archipelago, and also internationally. Reaching mainly Black and Afro-descendant communities. As part of their main focus, they have prioritized issues that impact Black and Afro-descendant women in Puerto Rico. From Étnica, strategic communication processes for the ecosystem were supported when developing and implementing Colectivo Ilé’s 2020 Census Campaign. In addition, workshops on organizing, communication strategies, creative writing, artivism, and healing were offered with other organizations and groups such as Afrocaribeñas and Taller Salud’s Women’s Circle. The organization served as a spokesperson for racial justice on the issue of the Census and the world-wide uprisings for Racial Justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Its platforms have become a space for anti-racist education.

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(8) Federación de Maestrxs de Puerto Rico

During this pandemic year, our country’s schools were closed until March 2021. In order to guarantee social and educational justice, it was necessary to close the existing digital gap, given the lack of economic and technological resources as well as internet access for hundreds of thousands of students. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the FMPR has claimed internet access as a human right and demanded equipment for all teachers and students. After an arduous campaign done together with other organizations, we were able to establish enough pressure for internet vouchers and technological equipment to be delivered to all components of the school community. On the other hand, while making concrete demands for the reparation and reconstruction of schools, we find that access to vaccination for those who wish to receive them prior to returning to school in person is an issue of social justice, because it is all part demanding safe schools for children and youth. Additionally, technology workshops were offered to teachers to facilitate the implementation of online classes. In addition, 9,660 endorsements were collected to petition elections for an exclusive union representative of all teachers. Guidance was offered online through Zoom to hundreds of teachers on the bill for a dignified retirement and on health and safety protocols to be implemented in open schools. Teachers from all over Puerto Rico were served, and over 9,660 were impacted island-wide.

(9) HASER, Inc.

HASER's mission is to promote social well-being in Puerto Rico through community-based actions that stimulate equity and quality of life. During this year, the review of this organization’s documents was completed, including institutional policies, statutes, and employment contracts. They worked directly with the operational maintenance of three properties in the municipalities of Aibonito, Jayuya, and Vieques, even with the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic, between May 2020 and June 2021. The activities offered through sponsored projects directly served 358 people in their communities. Additionally, the first fiscal sponsorship meeting offered in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation was achieved. That four-day meeting had a focus on Puerto Rico. The meeting was led by 12 people, including representatives of projects and organizations that give or receive fiscal sponsorship in Puerto Rico. About 80 people registered, and between 25 and 40 people attended daily.

(10) Taller Salud

In the last year, Taller Salud has reoriented its strategies to continue supporting fair recovery issues in the context following Hurricane María, adding the organization's response to new emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to its campaigns and community-organizing work on the issue of Hurricane María, such as "Recuperemos Lo Nuestro", "We Have Each Other" was added, a campaign aimed at identifying solutions to the needs of communities in Loíza arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. This health emergency forced the organization to reorient its strategies and activities to respond effectively to the emerging needs of the communities. Through an advocacy process, they were able to get city government to  deliver 600 food vouchers for people/families who were left without income and whose new Food and Nutrition program applications were not being evaluated due to the implementation of the "total lockdown" from March to May 2020. The City Legislature passed a resolution in favor of allowing organizations and individuals to post COVID-19 educational materials on public streets which, prior to the pandemic, was prohibited. Recognizing that emergencies exacerbate situations of gender violence, the city’s emergency system passed via a mass text message information on their 24/7 orientation and helpline for cases of gender violence, sexual aggression, and stalking. Taller Salud has worked hand-in-hand with various allied organizations over the past years in various campaigns. Senate Bill 950, which sought to limit access to abortion, prompted them to create the Free Abortion Campaign that later became the Abortion Table, of which they were founding members. The project in question was defeated during the legislative process, as it did not get the votes needed for its approval. Since 2018, they joined the demand for an emergency declaration due to gender violence as working groups were formed to exert pressure, actively participated in coordinated actions, and assumed the role of spokespersons. Since 2018, they have also been part of citizen efforts to fight and mobilize for a just recovery.

(11) Amigxs del Mar

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Amigxs del Mar works on citizen action for the defense of the environment and health of Puerto Rico. This year, they impacted 71,333 people through the outreach of social networks. Three hundred people were directly impacted through specific activities and educational training on the environment. Two community spaces were created that served to build relationships between the communities and their natural environments and to actively promote awareness of climate justice through community-support strategies, education on environmental justice policies (internal, local, and international), and the promotion of public policies and direct action.

(12) CEPA

CEPA is a project that creates encounters rooted in practices to heal accumulated trauma in our beings. Its mission is to promote the decolonization of Puerto Rico, recognizing this act as a continuous practice of unlearning and transforming life as we know it. For this, they have included: the recovery of ancestral traditions, the healing of ourselves and the earth, and the imagining and creation of alternatives to build a sense of interdependence and abundance that overcomes scarcity and individualism. It is part of a movement that was born out of the need to transform relationships and daily life to manifest a just future, in honor of ancestral wisdom and the earth. CEPA launched the “Dialects of Decolonization” initiative, a six-month collaborative learning experience (December 2020-May 2021) that impacts 80 people and was created by a coordinating team of 12 people (including interpreters, group organizers or “pods”, based on specific geographies, and two coordinators). This experience was exclusively for marginalized people known by the English acronym BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, focusing on non-binary people, and Women/Femmes), anchored in practices of healing justice, collective research, and political education. In 2021, CEPA also completed the first phase (1 year) of creating a network of people around the archipelago and the diaspora who share knowledge and skills in healing.

(13) CAM Bartolo

CAM Bartolo has focused its efforts during 2021 on supporting their communities in the prevention of the COVID-19 virus as well as the personal growth of the women who participate in their housing project. Additionally, a series of workshops by the MANTRA Project were created, carrying out psychoeducational workshops for psychosocial strengthening and empowerment. Las Mujeres Bartoleñas, a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life of rural communities in the region, also joined in October.

(14) Centro de Apoyo a Movimientos Sociales y Activistas

CAMSA made a series of adjustments to accommodate the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Naranjito, the preparation of a fair and accessible space for farmers was carried out, and several workshops focused on skills for agricultural production were given. They have also set the goal of establishing a cultural and political training school for activists, where they can develop their organizing skills. After moving CAMSA to Naranjito, they focused their training efforts on creating a camp. This space is being designed to provide alternatives to the educational backwardness and negative repercussions on cognitive and physical development that a year of confinement has caused. The process of preparing the camp, among other activities, was an excellent practice of power for young people, especially when designing their own power tools. Campaigns were carried out to denounce the government’s inefficient handling of the pandemic crisis and the grave situation of the country’s public education as well as the imposition of communications antennas. 

(15) Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

In order to strengthen the Transparency Program, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (Center for Investigative Journalism, or CPI) has been developing strategies to increase the number of access to information court cases and to extend this legal support to other independent media. Some of the cases filed in court by the CPI in the past year are: CPI v. Highways and Transportation Authority (2020- closed), for information on bridges in Puerto Rico and their state; CPI and ASPPRO v. Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced (2020), for a report on the government warehouse of supplies for victims in Ponce; CPI v. Demographic Registry (2020- closed), for information from the database of causes of death and death certificates during COVID-19; among others.


(16) Colectiva Feminista en Construcción

Colectiva Feminista en Construcción is a political organization that stems from the tradition of Black and decolonial feminism. During 2021, Colectiva Feminista led various sessions of denunciation and mobilization, particularly surrounding the State’s inaction and negligence in handling the pandemic and the continuing efforts to achieve the declaration of a State of Emergency due to gender violence. In turn, Colectiva demanded that the decision-making necessary to materialize the decree be prioritized and expedited, as well as the approval of the Action Plan for the Execution and Implementation of the State of Emergency, which preceded the consideration of the PARE Committee. Through their activities, conferences, and projects, they have managed to impact 230 people trained in the Radical Feminist School, 50 of whom have been inserted in other projects of their organization; 30 people impacted and trained through the Coleboratory; 500 people mobilized to “We want each other alive!”; 150 people mobilized for the Feminist Quilombo; and 500 people from the Barrio Obrero community impacted by said action, among other initiatives. 


(17) CirQ

Circuito Queer focused its 2021 efforts on continuing to support the LGBTTQIA community. They focused on fostering opportunities of interest to LGBTTQIA and sexual liberation activists who make up diverse coalitions that amplify the power to scale positive impact. In this case, when CIRQ received funds, it opted for the leadership of groups such as: Verbo Y Piel, Tipos PR, Matrilineo, Sin Binario, Lead in Sub, Revista Étnica, La Sombrilla Cuir, PR Trans Task Force, Taller Salud, among other small donations and exchanges of services. CirQ promoted 4 main programs: the Pleasure Collaborative (workshops for the personal and professional development of 7 people from lgbtqi+ organizations), cultural management interviews, Biodanza online, and "Mojaera Crítica”.

(18) El Hangar in Santurce

El Hangar, from the El Gandul community in Santurce, offers spaces to conspire and work with similar projects. Given the lack of safe spaces for the freedoms of their communities, this year El Hangar has continued its work of being a home and refuge for the communities it serves: queer, trans, non-binary, migrants (mostly Black women). Among their most beautiful achievements are: “bomba" music workshops created for the children of the El Gandul community, the orchard of the space, and support and accompaniment during the pandemic crisis (e.g. the distribution of groceries to several families).

(19) El Puente Enlace Latino de Acción Climática

The political objective of this organization is to advance environmental justice through a grassroots movement that advocates for the elimination of fossil fuels, fair access to renewable energy, and the creation of climate adaptation plans that are participatory, transparent, and auditable. El Puente has focused its efforts on three main programs: education, mobilization, and public policy. Even with the closure of schools due to the pandemic, the education program has continued to support the three public schools with which we collaborate, supporting teachers with educational materials and schools with hygiene supplies and socio-emotional activities. The mobilization program sustained awareness-raising and reporting activities on energy, planning, and global warming issues. Through the public policy program, they have intervened in local and federal legislative forums, as well as in the judicial forum to advance the elimination of fossil fuel contracts and the protection of health and natural resources. El Puente continues to impact communities such as: Tras Talleres, Hipódromo, and Las Marías neighborhoods in Santurce; Sabana and Amelia in Guaynabo; Vietnam in Cataño; Pozuelo in Guayama; Quebrada Ceiba in Peñuelas; and Tetuán and Mameyes in Utuado. Primarily, its work focuses on youth development and education, although its community programs serve a broader diversity of people, as do its media campaigns.

(20) EspicyNipples

EspicyNipples is a Transfeminist network that tells stories of the lives of LGBTTQI, women, workers, Black folks, immigrants, single mothers, and Indigenous people by using popular media. This year, it is worth highlighting the BombaCuir initiative, which consists of 12 meetings-workshops focused on percussion and dance for Black, Trans, and non-binary people. Through BombaCuir, it was possible to impact 15 people face-to-face on a recurring basis. This series of meetings-workshops were free of cost for people from their communities. Also, 7 people from Black, Trans, intersex, lesbian, queer, and gender non-conforming communities (asexual, pansexual, bisexual, gay, deaf, HIV-positive, and sex workers in Puerto Rico) were financially supported. Some of the challenges included access to transportation as well as the need to create a babysitting space for individuals who care for children.

(21) Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Caño Martín Peña

The Caño Martín Peña Land Trust is a community-based organization, created by Law 489-2004, to administer and guard more than 200 acres of land in the Caño Martín Peña Special Planning District. In this way, the lack of ownership of the community residents who have occupied the lands from generation to generation is addressed in a novel way; however, they lack ownership and guarantees of permanence. The Trust becomes a collective solution, so that control of the land remains perpetually in the hands of those who live on it, thus being the protagonists of its present and its future. During the past year, the Trust focused its efforts on the 0-Brecha-Tec Program, designed to close the technological gap through digital training and internet access in community spaces. Sixty-one people were trained during the first year of its implementation. Among the issues tackled during the year is the handling of: email, update of resumes, search for virtual appointments for services in public agencies. Additionally, the RÍE initiative remained active with an average of 15 participants. Among the issues discussed were recreational and physical activities, workshops on various topics, reflection workshops and story-reading, handcrafts, among others. On the other hand, LIJAC PRO, a professional internship project for women university students, provided internships for two young women. They contributed to aspects of design, coordination, and implementation of the RÍE, Tienda Solidaria, and 0-Brecha-Tec projects.

(22) Fideicomiso para el Desarrollo de Río Piedras

This organization focused their efforts on meeting the food needs of legally undocumented immigrant families, the elderly, and highly-vulnerable folks in our communities, in the face of the consequences of the earthquakes and the pandemic (COVID-19). Food vouchers were given to 68 families in 6 neighborhoods of Río Piedras: Blondet, Venezuela, Centro Urbano, Buen Consejo, Capetillo, and Santa Rita. Through these vouchers, these families received aid that otherwise they would not have received through any official channels. The Trust reached agreements with stores that delivered food in exchange for coupons given to families. It was possible to establish a solidarity alliance between local private companies and the Trust, for the benefit of the communities. The total value of the vouchers delivered to the families amounted to $ 4,985.

(23) Huerto Semilla

During this grant period, it was possible to co-build a curriculum with the intention of enabling an alternative space, Escuela Semillita, whose purpose is to multiply and share agroecological knowledge, focused on action from the land and towards food sovereignty. On the other hand, with the aim of not reproducing practices of oppression and honoring the struggle, a training space was developed, Escuela Semillera 1.1, where facilitators received training on topics such as: anti-oppression facilitation, non-violent communication, popular education, among others. Finally, for the first time, a stipend was awarded to the Seeds (folks who participate in Huerto Semilla) who are doing political work in Puerto Rico, taking Huerto Semilla’s needs into consideration and distributing the money fairly. With Pueblo Crítico and Caribana Coop, workshops and spaces for educational meetings and learning focused on popular education were developed.

(24) IDEBAJO

One of the fundamental elements of IDEBAJO's political objectives is the construction of people power. For this, it is essential to strengthen and rescue community autonomy through self-management and mutual aid as a way to grow the collective community capacity. IDEBAJO has supported grassroots groups and projects by providing, among other things, technical, practical, administrative, legal, and training support through the accompaniment of an operational body that monitors and facilitates access to resource spaces and organizing tools. This work has reached more than 1,500 people in 7 communities (Coquí, San Felipe, Aguirre, Mareas, Playa, Mosquito, and Arizonas), in 3 municipalities (Salinas, Guayama, and Arroyo). In addition to the base structures and socio-productive projects, IDEBAJO has internal structures that are nurtured by people from these bases who strengthen the work of organizing, development, and training, such as the Health and Safety Committee, the Solidarity Economy Committee, and the Culture, Education and Communications Committee from which the Community Education and Training School comes out.

(25) La Colmena Cimarrona

La Colmena Cimarrona is committed to continuing developing La Semillera with seed banks and better infrastructure. Currently, there are more than 11k square meters of land cleared and 5k squared meters planted. Another victory is the construction of the trailer for La Sambumbia, an initiative of a mobile market in Vieques. Additionally, workshops were facilitated on: popular education, natural oils, preparing your nursery, agricultural safety, basic principles for solar systems, rainwater collection, plants that heal, open farm, care and maintenance of benches and nurseries, workshops for the farms of the Vieques Agricultural Collective, and monthly Solidarity Brigades to the farms of the Vieques Agricultural Collective.

(26) La Maraña Corp.

In 2021, La Maraña managed, in collaboration with three partner communities, to finalize the social impact projects defined through the Post-María Imagination Model: water for everyone in Mariana, Humacao; a community center at La Conde school in Carolina; and the Prende Palomas Project for the lighting and improvement of common areas in La Vuelta del Dos in Comerío. La Maraña’s work has impacted 100 families in Comerío, 3,200 inhabitants in Humacao, and 300 families in Carolina. Through the A Cielo Abierto panels, a total of 25 representatives of organizations that advocate for a better Puerto Rico from their spaces and communities have been included. This La Maraña initiative, as part of the Ayuda Legal Fair Recovery Campaign, has made visible various communities and their demands throughout 6 regions of Puerto Rico, including the municipalities of Vieques, Humacao, Loíza, Carolina, Lares, and Mayagüez.

(27) Mujeres de Islas


Mujeres de Islas contributes to raising awareness around the idea that it is the communities themselves who direct, determine, and contribute to their development. Mujeres de Islas has the mission of making visible that Culebra can be an example for the rest of our archipelago, honoring its natural and cultural heritage with a focus on providing opportunities for the economic development and well-being of local women. Since the end of last year, Mujeres de Islas continues to focus on services offered to mitigate the stress caused by lacking food access and job loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, they have focused their efforts on offering healing and wellness spaces.

(28) Pangea PR

Pangea PR held the first Positivx Youth Encounter, “Political Bodies”, focused on young people living with HIV and led by Black, Trans, people living with HIV, women, and queer folks. They generated psychosocial support through HIV empowerment and understanding, from a biological, sexual, political, social, and rights-based point of view. Twenty-two young people living with HIV, between the ages of 19 to 35, participated in this meeting, and 15 people were also supported indirectly. Those who participated in this meeting came from different towns: Río Grande, Guaynabo, Vieques, San Juan, Cayey, Aibonito, Ciales, Bayamón, Caguas, Añasco, Canóvanas, Manatí, Carolina, Loíza, Humacao, Arroyo, and Guánica. Among the participants were people from the following communities: people living with HIV, Black women, Trans folks, queer people, and people with disabilities.


(29) Parceleras por la Transformación Barrial, PATBA

As a community-based organization composed of Afro-Caribbean women, PATBA promotes cultural, ecological, artistic, and educational management with the purpose of promoting the empowerment of the residents of the communities of San Antón, Saint Just, and Los Mirtos in imperative matters related to civil rights, land, water, education, sustainability, and the democratic process. During the past year, PATBA focused on the construction of a kitchen and multipurpose space. In addition, activities such as: solidarity brigades, solar cinema, and supporting the community with the delivery of food to the elderly population during the quarantine period (COVID-9) and solidarity lunches for young folks and children. The communities involved during these offerings were: San Antón, Saint Just, Los Mirtos, Barrio Santo Domingo, Barrios La Araña, and Betania, the communities surrounded by Carolina, Trujillo Alto, and San Juan.


(30) Pueblo Crítico

In the period from July 2020 to July 2021, Pueblo Crítico managed to establish support and training for 6 community projects, on popular education and facilitation, non-violent communication, diversity and intersectionality issues. We managed to offer periodic monitoring of projects and facilitate learning processes and integration of techniques and reflections on popular education in their projects and with their communities. In addition, the projects received training workshops on core and complementary themes of Pueblo Crítico's Grant, as part of the training process.


(31) Semillero de las Artes

Semillero de las Artes, Inc. is an organization that has provided the artistic community with ways to receive the necessary grants to support and develop projects. The Puerto Rico project "Before Profit", in this first stage, lasted from February 2020 until July 2020. During this period, 11 public interventions were carried out between the west and the metropolitan area of ​​the archipelago; and two workshops for children from schools without walls in the southwest (Guánica and Lajas) that collaborated with the realization of a mural with their demands on Fernández Juncos Street, Santurce, PR. The digital platform (www.bembapr.com/puertoricobeforeprofit) was also created, which serves as an immersion tool in social emergencies in Puerto Rico and a guide to groups and initiatives directing efforts to address them. Semillero de las Artes also supported artists and managers of CIRCO DE LA PLAZA in the town of Mayagüez, so that they can receive a quick response for jobs loss due to the implementation of the executive order of quarantine and social distancing on the Island.


(32) Urbe Apie

Urbe Apie is located in the urban center of the town of Caguas. The communities that benefit from the programs and services they offer have been: Casco Urbano, Barriada Morales, Savarona, Machin, and Paraíso, among others. With their programs and services, more than 30 thousand people have been impacted. The Solidarity Purchases program was supported and promoted, in which more than 20,000 bags of groceries were distributed. In this program, a call center was incubated, volunteers were organized so that the operation was up and running. The harm reduction program, Hermanxs de la Calle, continues to operate, providing snacks, clothing, essential hygiene items and exchanging used syringes for new ones. Workshops were offered on the right to housing and the right to the city. The opening of the Fig Tree Museum was completed in the rescued building: Valle Garita. The Mural Festival, Despierta Verano, was created with the intention of offering our community and communities of interest, in public spaces, Art with themes that reinforce our liberating worldviews of gender, sexuality, race, community, and identity, impacting more than 10 thousand people. The work that was promoted during 2020-2021 helped establish mechanisms that strengthen community social work.


(33) ACUTAS

The legitimate recovery of the community is achieved by strengthening its resilience to face the problems and challenges that daily and functional life entails. With this in mind, the ACUTAS initiative had as a common denominator, attending as a first priority the needs that compromise the health and lives of the most vulnerable people, either due to their fragile physical or health condition or because of poor or no access to basic resources in the following three areas: food, drinking water, and disease prevention and health protection. Additionally, this year they focused their efforts on supporting four community kitchens: Villa Calma 1, Villa Calma 2, Barrio Ingenio, and Villas del Sol.


(34) Auditoría Ya

Auditoría Ya’s mission is to promote the comprehensive citizen audit of the public debt as a tool to promote education, the dissemination of information, the participation of citizens, and their right to exercise political power around the decision-making processes of the debt in Puerto Rico. They have the vision of a fair, equitable, democratic, and supportive Puerto Rico that exercises its power to govern with transparency, accountability, and the active participation of the people, in the use of its public funds, to guarantee the enjoyment of our human rights.  During the past year, the Auditoría Ya Campaign prioritized the strengthening of four objectives: (1) Request and obtain public information related to its public finances and the transactions and decisions that have led to the accumulation of the public debt, (2) Publish reports on issues related to the legality, legitimacy, and sustainability of the debt and the restructuring agreements proposed by the Fiscal Control Board, and the social and economic impact of the austerity policies imposed under the pretext of the need to pay the debt, (3) Develop an educational campaign around issues that make visible the impact of the debt in our lives, and (4) Continue the work of building coalitions of resistance to debt and to the Fiscal Control Board.


(35) CAM Las Carolinas

The Centro de Apoyo Mutuo or CAM Las Carolinas is a self-determination project that was created due to the need for food and aid in Las Carolinas community due to the passage of Hurricane Maria in 2017. It offered lunch services to the community , workshops for volunteers, services for the elderly in the “Nuevo Amanecer” room, an orchard, and a Bazaar. These efforts impacted 3,872 people.

(36) Caminando la Utopía


Caminando la Utopía coordinates and facilitates spaces for relaxation and well-being in communities of the archipelago of Puerto Rico. During the last year, 18 people were trained in acupuncture in the community of Las Carolinas in Caguas and in the Bucarabones neighborhood in Las Marías. The people trained in acupuncture were a diverse group made up of agricultural workers, members of political projects, progressive non-profit organizations, Indigenous movements, feminists, and self-determination and mutual aid projects, to facilitate healing spaces in their communities.

(37) Camji Lares

In the last 4 years, Camji Lares has fought incessantly for a dignified life in the Jíbaro communities and the small farmers of Lares. Their vision is territorial, community, agro-food, framed in the principle of social justice. They dream of seeing the Jíbaro peasant communities reconstituted as the core of popular power, capable of self-managing the elements for their own sustainable development. They envision, on the one hand, associations of Jíbara women, self-managing their own organizational, economic, medicinal, and cultural bases to face different types of exploitation, marginalization, and subordination that stem from the patriarchal, capitalist, and colonial system in Puerto Rico. On the other hand, they envision a Lares revitalized from within and from below by a legion of small farmers with access to fertile lands, free and agro-ecological inputs, markets and fair prices to mass the production of agro-ecological food for them, their communities, and the rest of the country; and to lay the foundations needed to overcome dependence on the import of food and agro-toxic inputs.

(38) Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Bucarabones Unido, Inc.

Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Bucarabones Unido (Mutual Aid Center) focused its efforts on providing direct services to rural communities in Las Marías in the face of a new reality of earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization distributed food, basic supplies, and educational materials to approximately 200 families in these rural communities. In the midst of the pandemic, the digital divide was one of the factors that affected the quality of education. Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Bucarabones Unido provided access to computers and printers so that students from rural communities in the town of Las Marías could complete their homework.

(39) Centro de la Mujer Dominicana

Centro de la Mujer Dominicana (Center for Dominican Women), aware of the pandemic of gender-based violence in Puerto Rico, developed the self-awareness and projection project called "I Am". This 9-workshop curriculum was a space for a group of Dominican migrant women survivors of domestic violence to recognize their abilities and strengths. At the same time, they learned skills to manage their projection. Racism, xenophobia, gender-based violence, and community organizing were some of the topics that these Quisqueyanas worked on and learned about, and now they live free of domestic and sexist violence. The aim of “I Am” is to develop the leadership of migrant women survivors of gender-based violence, so that can know, exercise, and defend their rights.

(40) Colectivo El Ancón de Loíza, Inc.

From the heart of Loíza, as planned, after a pandemic year, the El Ancón de Loíza Collective focused on the improvement and conditioning of its service infrastructure in the “Casa de la Juventud” and the “Cocina Community ”. El Ancón has served as the headquarters for local and diaspora initiatives that seek to empower the local community and visitors. Within the themes, they addressed the issue of their own pride, self-confidence and the development of the Loiceño identity, necessary tools to aspire to goals and objectives of improvement. Through art and recreation, they have offered self-care alternatives, so that the community regain enthusiasm and feel in control of their life.


(41) Editorial Casa Cuna

During the past two years (2020-2021), Editorial Casa Cuna has offered the TRANScomunidá scholarship, improving the quality of life of 22 trans folks who lacked access to housing, food, and healthcare. This scholarship is the result of exacerbating conditions of precariousness, violence, and vulnerability experienced by these communities in the form of state violence, intrafamily violence, partner abuse, and insufficient tools or aid to cope with the current pandemic in the Borikén archipelago.


(42) Huerto Vida


Huerto Vida is a project that works with sowing, art, and traditional medicine as tools for healing and social justice. It works from a Transfeminist, environmentalist, anti-racist, and intergenerational perspective, among other intersectionalities. Huerto Vida arises from the need to validate traditional medicine’s knowledge in our communities, promote access to different tools of healing and well-being for communities that usually lack this type of access. This past year, emphasis was on Abrazos al Sur and Apapachos. Abrazos al Sur were a series of health and wellness brigades visited the Bucarabones camps, in Maricao, La Luna, and Laguna in Guánica to offer: rubs, Reiki, acupuncture, herbalism, movement workshops, art, and consent, among others. Apapachos were spaces for emotional support, health, and well-being for activists and organizers. The focus has now moved on to taking work to virtual spaces for emotional support, and different workshops offer self-care and collective care tools, during these times.


(43) Instituto Universitario para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades

IUDC collaborates with community-based groups or liaison staff in communities to face challenges, aspirations, and needs identified by the residents. They provide Participatory Action Research experiences to campus students and faculty. Its vision is to maintain a growing activity of inclusion and community development, providing unique experiences to the student body and allowing for community resources to develop experiences and solutions to the challenges they face. They work with more than 45 communities located in different parts of the Puerto Rican archipelago, and more than 150 students per semester.

(44) Kilómetro 0, Inc.

Kilómetro 0 developed a monitoring and documentation system and a digital platform to document cases of violent, excessive, or discriminatory interventions by public security agents. In June, they presented, at Pública in Santurce and online through Facebook, the Evidence of Violence Project, a citizen tool to demand accountability from public security, to make State violence visible, to conduct analysis and research, to promote citizen participation in public security accountability, to create civic indicators of progress around State violence, and to identify specific causes for public advocacy. This database currently has approximately 191 documented cases, around 50 of these related to interventions by pandemic executive orders of lockdown. To support the Evidence of Violence Project, printed and digital educational materials were developed to encourage people to tell their stories in interventions with public security officials.


(45) PISO Proyecto

PISO is a collective of artists, movers, activists, students, and healing facilitators who research and promote new ways of connecting and recharging our senses for popular emancipation in the context of the Puerto Rican archipelago. During the past year, its goals were to continue building the PISO website; to ensure that PISO Casa had a solar panel, a garden, and other key preparations for the hurricane season; and to continue strengthening its operational budget to ensure the livelihood of all collaborators. Part of its praxis and methodology allows for structured improvisation and instantaneous composition, responding skillfully and rigorously mind-body to unforeseen events in the tropics and the colony. For PISO, health, well-being, and good living, as well as emotional and spiritual stability are the basis for being able to continue in service, creating, healing, and empowering.


(46) Proyecto Matria

Matria is a community-based, feminist, human rights organization. They work to transform society and advance equity through actions aimed at educating, promoting, and facilitating the empowerment and economic development of women, LGBTTQI communities, and other social groups living in inequality. In 2021, Matria worked on the Women's Route Special Project, which included: virtual workshops, in-person workshops, live presentations on social media, evaluation of elections candidacies, compilation of complaints and proposals from women and LGBTTIQ people against political parties, evaluation of political proposals from a gender perspective, creation of educational graphic material. The affected regions were Orocovis (Miraflores) and Comerío. Additionally, they held four workshops (two online and two in-person) and reached 43 women by October 10, 2020. Eleven micro-workshops were held, reaching approximately 1,000 people. In addition, a Women’s Assembly was held on Zoom, where some 30 additional proposals were collected and 25 women participated. On October 21, 2020, a document titled "Proposals and Demands for Political Parties,” which included a total of 74 proposals, was sent to the political parties (with the exception of Proyecto Dignidad).

(47) Proyecto Salud y Acupuntura para el Pueblo

Faced with the emergency lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Proyecto Salud y Acupuntura para el Pueblo (Health and Acupuncture for the People Project) did not stop working and, instead, employed its creativity and networks to continue bringing healing practices to folks and their communities. Through their social networks, they offered acupressure workshops. In April 2020, they developed a biosafety protocol that would allow them to continue with their free clinics in Santurce and Aibonito. The healing spaces are meetings that are free for all who wish to receive the benefits of auricular acupuncture, in a space of relaxation and tranquility.


(48) Todas (todaspr.com)

TODAS regularly offers workshops on feminist journalism and journalistic coverage with a gender perspective to Communications students from various universities in the country. The workshops are offered according to each request. The organization continuously works in the production and support of media campaigns against gender-based violence, focusing on raising awareness among young people about their own macho behaviors and thoughts. They have intended to invite reflection regarding gender roles. They also seek to problematize normalized situations, such as the control of couples' social network passwords, street harassment, and the distribution of domestic tasks. TODAS continues to work to grow their audience, and their goal is to reach more people through high-quality journalistic work that draws on attractive visual tools that help us innovate in the digital field.

(49) Y no había Luz

The Centinela de Corazón educational program continued its route online during pandemic times, serving 40 families (120 participants) from the towns of Cidra, San Juan, Caguas, Trujillo Alto, Aguas Buenas, Aibonito, San Germán, Peñuelas, Naranjito, Toa Alta, and the Florida diaspora. Centinela de Corazón aims to increase awareness of climate change in the communities and provide creative and alternative solutions to communities by healing and cultivating future leaders through the arts. Y no había luz supports families with limited economic resources, providing workshops and materials.

(50) Brigada Solidaria del Oeste

Brigada Solidaria del Oeste (Western Solidarity Brigade) was very active during 2020, exploring the needs of communities in the west of Puerto Rico after the January earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic. A group of people was trained in sign language to collaborate with the deaf community in the west. At the same time, they carried out reconstruction work in Guánica, supported the Rucio community in Peñuelas in the Aula en la Montaña Project, where tutorials were offered to students in the community. They paid for teachers to serve 17 special education students. In the same way, they supported the trans community in its economic independence through the Trans Emprende Training Business project. Participants at the end of the training will complete their business plan and receive seed funds ffor a total of $ 500 to jumpstart their idea.





 
 
 
 
 

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