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Co-Sponsored by:
La Organización de Puertorriqueños Association en Harvard

 
Association of Puerto Rican Students

 

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University of Puerto Rico

 

Mentes Puertorriqueñas en acción: Un nuevo enfoque Económico

Networking Reception
Friday, April 18, 2008
5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Fundación Luís Muñoz Marín
San Juan, Puerto Rico

Panel Sessions
Saturday, April 19, 2008
7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Normandie Hotel,
San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

On April 21, 2007, over 100 students from more than 25 universities from Puerto Rico and the continental United States gathered at Harvard University to participate in the conference “Restoring Economic Growth in Puerto Rico: Proposing Solutions.” The conference was convened by the Harvard-MIT Puerto Rican Caucus, an organization composed of Puerto Rican students from Harvard and MIT. The gathering’s objective was to serve as a link between the present leaders in Puerto Rico and its future leaders in order to discuss and assess the conditions that prevent economic growth in the island so as to propose possible solutions. The Caucus’s members organized the conference because they recognized the need to exert pressure on the island’s leaders by demonstrating the students’ interests and commitment to the improvement of the Puerto Rican economy.The Harvard-MIT Puerto Rican Caucus, the lead organizer of the Conference, was originally formed for several reasons:
  • To propose concrete, innovative and fresh solutions to the Island’s problems and go the extra mile to improve the livelihood of the Island and its future prospects.
  • To allow students to make their own contributions in jumpstarting the Puerto Rican economy and restoring growth.
  • To show both Island and Mainland Puerto Ricans the importance of rejecting complacency and taking action to improve Puerto Rico.
 Under these guiding principles, the Harvard-MIT Puerto Rican Caucus has worked arduously during the last year to bring together students from both institutions and at all academic levels in order to pool resources, become a stronger voice and make a difference. After this conference, the Harvard-MIT Puerto Rican Caucus coalesced with the President of the University of Puerto Rico and a group of students from the island. From the union of these two student groups Puerto Rican Minds in Action (MPA) was born with the purpose to continue the efforts to promote awareness among students on the mayor issues confronting the island and to foment the participation of the Puerto Rican youth in the development of effective solutions to some of the island’s problems. To achieve these goals, the conference Puerto Rican Minds in Action: A New Economic Approach was conceived. This conference will be held in Puerto Rico in April 2008 and it will have an interactive format between experts and students to brainstorm educated solutions to some of the economic and social problems the island faces. These solutions will be compiled in a document to be published and distributed among political and economic leaders so as to promote the implementation of these solutions.In order to prepare students for the conference and to bring together the academic community in Boston and Puerto Rico simultaneous informational speaker series will be held in both places which will address the topics that will be further discussed in the conference. The objectives of this new Conference and Speaker Series are:
  • To propose solutions for the economic crisis in Puerto Rico.
  • To emphasize the implementation of these proposed solutions.
  • To promote an intellectual exchange between university students in Boston and Puerto Rico with the same interests and concerns about the current situation on the island and stimulate their interest in the economy.
  • To create a consciousness at both Harvard and MIT about the crisis while at the same time educating the public about Puerto Rico’s economic status and the political implications limiting the array of viable solutions.
One of the main goals MPA works to achieve is to inspire members to return or stay in Puerto Rico and restore economic growth. We are confident that by raising awareness through these new events we have inspired students to restore economic growth in Puerto Rico from whichever part of the globe they may find themselves in. There is always a way to give back and we want to facilitate it through this series of events.