DEVELOPING SOLIDARITY, PUERTO RICO
more about us
We support sustainable economic activities based on solidarity among community residents and society, promote youth development and help to empower communities to tackle the issues they understand are the most pressing for their lives.
The extraordinary work the organizations we work with do to maintain/restore the natural environment, develop community owned micro-enterprises and in general improve the quality of life for residents, has been severely impacted by the harsh economic downturn the island has experienced in the last several years. Yet, their continued commitment to improve the lives of the residents of the communities they serve has inspired us to work together with them to bring international volunteers that are interested not only in having an amazing experience supporting the people of the beautiful Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, but also in learning best practices in community organization and sustainable development while enjoying the culture and beautiful natural wonders of the Island.
Mission
Our mission is to support community-based organizations in developing communities providing them, through the work of our volunteers, with resources needed to achieve their economic, environmental and social goals.
Vision
Our vision is the development of a society based on solidarity among human beings. We promote a society that puts the care for and well-being of nature, including human beings, at the center of every economic, social, cultural and technological endeavor.
Our Director
Luis Sáez Núñez
Luis Sáez Núñez (Director) -- is a geographer with over twenty years of experience in the community development field. He has worked with many disadvantaged communities in Puerto Rico and the United States, focusing primarily on the development of sustainable economic projects, environmental justice issues, community education, participatory planning and micro-enterprise incubators.
In Puerto Rico, Luis has worked, among others, with the Office of the Coordinator for the Financing of the Socio-economic Development of Communities (Special Communities Office), the Corporation for the "Proyecto Enlace del Caño Martin Peña", a major environmental justice and community development project located in the heart of the capital city of San Juan, and the Universidad del Este.
In the U.S., Luis worked for over three years with Nuestras Raíces, Inc., a nationally recognized community-based organization working with environmental justice, urban agriculture and food security issues in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Also in Holyoke, MA, Luis worked at the Community Education Project, a community-based organization working with adult education, alphabetization and economic justice issues in disadvantaged, mostly Latino, communities. While in Massachusetts, Luis was an Environmental Career Organization’s Diversity Fellow at the US-EPA Region 1 Office in Boston where he worked with the Environmental Justice and Urban Environmental Programs.
Luis holds a master’s degree in science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Geosciences Department and a bachelor’s degree in arts from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras’ Geography Department.
Luis is also a licensed Tourism Tour Operator, certified by Puerto Rico Tourist Company (PRTC).