Women’s Foundation launches P.R. chapter
The Puerto Rico Women’s Foundation has been constituted on the island, with support from the Puerto Rico Community Foundation and the New York Women’s Foundation as an alliance by women on the island and the diaspora in the northeastern state, it was announced.
The local Women’s Foundation was established in March and will be officially launched in New York on Nov. 19 and in Puerto Rico early next year, its founders said.
The creation of the local chapter is the result of a conversation between Ana Oliveira, president of The New York Women’s Foundation, and Elba Montalvo, co-president and founder of this new foundation. Both agreed that, beyond focusing on supporting women in Puerto Rico after the devastation by Hurricane María in September 2017, they wanted a long-term, sustainable project led by and for women in Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rico Women’s Foundation will be the first of its kind on the island, led by women in Puerto Rico, in close and continuous collaboration with the women of New York. It will make resources viable for projects focused on women’s needs, which promote social justice toward women in Puerto Rico; strengthen their economic security, well-being, health and reproductive autonomy; and achieve the empowerment of women, girls and non-binary people.
Its goal is to support and collaborate with community projects and nonprofit organizations that promptly address the issues of women and gender in Puerto Rico.
“We’re grateful that the Puerto Rico Community Foundation is our temporary ally and custodian of this great project for our island,” said Sara Benítez, co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Women’s Foundation.
The work of the Puerto Rico Women’s Foundation will take place in several ways, including fundraising and donating to other organizations, as well as promoting advocacy and defending projects for women’s rights that result in better conditions for them.
