Puerto Rico: Growing Community-Based Development
Amid Obstacles in an Island Paradise
Stories by Tubal Padilla Gailiano and staff from
Puerto Rico NeighborWorks® organizations.
Excerpted from Summer 2003 NeighborWorks® Bright Ideas
With low-income levels, high unemployment and poverty rates,
and a cost of living that in San Juan’s metropolitan area
compares to major cities in the northeastern United State, Puerto
Rico’s social and economic landscape can be a challenge
for even mature community development organizations. Puerto Rico’s
73 percent home-ownership rate masks the realities of substandard
housing and that many homeowners do not have title to the land
on which their home is built, especially in the barriadas.
The challenge is made even more daunting by the late start of
the community development movement, the tentativeness of municipal
and insular governments, the limited applicability of federal
programs, and the scarcity of local funding sources.
NeighborWorks organizations and other community-based nonprofits,
however, have built on the many assets of Puerto Rican communities:
strong family ties, commitment to place, human solidarity and
compassion, hard work, pride in a rich cultural heritage, optimism
in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and inter-racial
unity.
The accompanying articles provide a broad view of what is working.
See special NeighborWorks bright ideas section on Puerto
Rico. Download
[PDF, 228KB]
Tubal Padilla Gailiano is a Neighborhood Reinvestment management
consultant in the New York/Puerto Rico district.
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