CLC-Conference-Proceeding-2018

the government was not capable to do during
the emergency. There were many stories of
communities organized to help restore the
electricity in remote areas in the central region
of Puerto Rico and NGO’s acting as first
responders to save lives and provide
humanitarian support beyond their original
mission. All this, just a small sample of the
power of the community and the collaboration
of many NGO’s who certainly want to be a
part in the new Puerto Rico. Now we are
rebuilding and maneuvering around our
mission to stay relevant in a new scenario.
At the Centro, we have always strived to
attack the poverty and inequality problem in a
more systemic way, which call for the attention
of different stakeholders and different
dimensions. Fighting poverty and inequality is
a monumental task that can’t be done without
the involvement of other collaborators,
especially after Irma and María. These
conditions and the many challenges Puerto
Rico is currently facing call for a new breed of
leaders and change agents. If within the spirit
of some collaborations, there is an opportunity
to develop more change agents, organizations
like ours should pursue it as well.
For years, the Community Leadership
Center Director, Dr. Gloria Bonilla, has
maintained close collaboration ties with the
Sila M. Calderón Foundation and the Centro
Para Puerto Rico. This relationship has gone in
line with the University Strategic Plan, which
calls for academic scholarship that can address
issues of inclusion, social justice and
community development within the framework
of scholars’ engagement, academic
differentiation and experimental learning.
We have seen not only what the
Community Leadership Center impact in
Camden has been but how Rutgers has also
promoted the bridging of community
development projects with the creation and
sustainability of new academic programs. To
have the opportunity to bring part of that to
Puerto Rico in the form of a collaboration with
the CLC, Rutgers University and the Centro
Para Puerto Rico, was an opportunity we
could not miss.
As a result, high quality interdisciplinary
graduate and professional programs has been
offered by Rutgers in Puerto Rico at the
Center. Young public service professionals
have benefited from the opportunity of getting
top notch educational programs, without
leaving the Island and at affordable tuitions
rates, covered in most cases by grants provided
by the Senate of Puerto Rico, other Puerto
Rico Governmental Agencies and many
Private Institutions.
Two programs were developed and
offered under the leadership of Dr. Gloria
Bonilla Santiago: A graduate Certificate
Program in Community Development and the
Master in Public Administration. Both
programs address critical societal needs by
training emerging leaders to become effective
ethical agents for community development in
neighborhoods around the Island. These
programs were customized to provide a solid
theoretical context for community
development, while also building the skills
repertoire of emerging leaders looking to