National Puerto Rican Agenda (NPRA) Announces
Por Puerto Rico Campaign
The NiLP Report
The outline has begun to emerge of a strategy by the Puerto Rican diaspora
to support Puerto Rico's efforts to address its massive debt crisis
and seek Congressional action to provide Puerto Rico with bankruptcy protection
and other assistance. It is being spearheaded by the National Puerto Rican
Agenda (NPRA), which describes itself aszzzz:
"a nonpartisan alliance of national and local organizations, elected and community leaders, and volunteers. The alliance was born out of a collective desire to address Puerto Rico's economic crisis and promote Puerto Rican political and civic participation in the United States. The ultimate purpose of the NPRA is to unite, educate, and create solutions for the Puerto Rican people in the United States and Puerto Rico."
The National Puerto Rican Agenda and the Caucus of Puerto Rican Elected Officials were created last year at a national gathering of Puerto Rican leaders in Orlando, Florida. During an April 22-23, 2016 Puerto Rico/Puerto Ricans: A Diaspora Summit held in New York City sponsored by the CUNY Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, and a separate meeting of the Caucus of Puerto Rican Elected Officials, held on April 24 also in New York City, an Action Agenda was developed. It consists of the following components:
- Support for the "Free Oscar Lopez Rivera" Campaign
- The "Por Puerto Rico" Electoral and Civic Action Campaign
- Holding a rally in support of Puerto Rico on July 18, 2016 at the Republican National Convention in Clevemad
- Holding a rally in support of Puerto Rico on July 25, 2016 at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia
- Convening the First National Summit of the NPRA on July 24, 2o16 in Camden/Philadelphia
- Creation of NPRA as a non-profit corporation
The NPRA Steering Committee, being coordinated by the Centro de Estudioa Puertorriqueños, consists at this point of the following regional representatives: Edwin Vargas CA; Joe Rodriguez CT; Yanil Terón CT; Rafael Fantauzzi DC; Ronald Blackburn-Moreno DC; Edwin Segarra DE; Jimmy Torres FL-O; Johana Lopez FL-O; Marcos Vilar FL-M; Natasha Otero-Santiago FL-M; Jose E. Lopez IL; L. Alejandro Molina IL; Alejandro Manzanares MA; Otoniel Figueroa-Duran MA; Che Velazquez NJ; Lydia Valencia NJ; Luis Garden Acosta NY; Brenda Torres NY; Juan Molina Crespo OH; Victor Leandry OH; Angel Ortiz PA; Nilda Ruiz PA; and Heriberto Martinez PR. They are also trying to recruit representatives from Puerto Rico, Delaware, California and Texas.
The NPRA is currently organized through the following committees:
- Cleveland Host Committee for 2016 Republican National Convention July 18, 2016 (coordinated by Juan Molina)
- Host Committee for 2016 Democratic National Convention July 25, 2016 (Angel Ortiz)
- Electoral and civic action campaign targeting Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania (Roberto Lugo, Jimmy Torres, Rafael Collazo, Victor Leandry)
- New Jersey Host Committee for the NPRA First National Summit or meeting of delegates in Camden/Philadelphia to be held on Sunday, July 24, 2016 (Lydia Valencia)
- Recruiting Regional Reps for California, Delaware and Texas (Edwin Melendez)
- Development pf Governance and By-laws (Martin Perez, Fernando Grillo)y)
- Program Committee (Jaime Farrant, Hector Cordero)
For further information
National Puerto Rican Agenda Facebook Page
Twitter: @PRicanAgenda