Our Programs

La Brega y Fuerza will focus on issues of importance to the Puerto Ricans on the island and within the diaspora’s existing and growing communities. To achieve this goal, we will create “Centros” that will act as centralized spaces for our engaged community to gather and brainstorm in our target states. These hubs will be focused on connecting the work back to the island, focusing on issues such as public health, affordable and sustainable energy alternatives, economic justice, and education infrastructure.  

La Brega y Fuerza will engage communities through three programs:

Orgullo (The Pride of the Island)

Every Puerto Rican understands the word Orgullo. Pride, Legacy, Land and history is what drives the island. This is the work of connecting members of the diaspora to each other by developing “Centros”, or organizing hubs that will develop a community outreach strategy for engaging Puerto Ricans in advocacy campaigns and civic engagement. “Centros” will employ relational organizing to families and friends to connect one Puerto Rican community across the country —training them to raise awareness of critical issues impacting the island. This program will aim to train organizers and provide microgrants to relevant organizations, building out our “Centros” across the U.S.

Despierta (Wake Up NY)

Since the 1930’s, New York has been the epicenter for Puerto Ricans resettling in the United States and since then has become home to the largest population of Puerto Ricans outside the island. Cultivating the diaspora in NY will be essential to our work across the U.S. We will start by targeting newly-settled Puerto Ricans, many of whom are young with families, and encouraging them to attend our monthly “Cafecito” meetings. There we will map out the relational organizing strategy and create a streamlined network connecting the “Centros” to the states, ultimately mobilizing the diaspora to take action on key issues affecting the island.

La Brega – Way of Life

This project focuses on issue advocacy in Puerto Rico by cultivating an activist base while engaging existing organizations and leaders to add to the scale of work across the island. Working in communities to develop advocacy platforms with residents to run issue campaigns on and off the island addressing inequities in issues like healthcare, education and achieving economic justice. This is essentially the pipeline to Orgullo. We will offer microgrants to organizations on the ground that are already doing this work. 

La Brega / The Raquel Fund

The Raquel Fund will focus on collecting and sharing stories of elders on the island. This fund, named for the founder’s grandmother, Raquel, is about building a legacy for elderly residents of the island, who have been fighting to remain from displacement and lack of primary care. This fund will support groups advocating for the fundamental rights of Puerto Ricans and elderly care.