The Puerto Rico Community Foundation (PRCF), Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) and Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities (ABFE), with the support of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, brought together a select group of speakers specializing in issues of social inequality, racism and community activism in the United States and Puerto Rico that also included academics and philanthropists in a conversation on Afro-Latino communities and social inequality.
The event was the continuation of a conversation initiated two years ago in Puerto Rico by the FCPR, when a multi-sector dialogue was held in Loíza with the participation of Dr. Robert Ross, president of the California Endowment and promoter of the Boys and Men of Color program. It was this program that prompted former President Barack Obama to launch its national version under the name My Brother's Keeper. Anchored in that experience, last year a plan for the future of Loíza's youth began to be co-designed with the participation of a large group of community leaders.
Once the dialogue began with two panels - one with a national perspective and the other with a Puerto Rican perspective - together with the group exercise, the need for a change of narrative and the transformation and collaboration of philanthropic organizations prevailed as core themes to advance this common agenda. There was extensive discussion on the different reflections that should emerge at the personal, community, institutional and national levels, and potential strategies for working together in the future were identified.
This document is a brief account of the dialogue that took place at the Forum and the reflections that emerged from it.
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