The U.S. Media Industry Steps Up with Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico to Break the Cycle of Poverty

SAN JUAN, PR – They have been forgotten, the majority of Puerto Rico’s children who live under the poverty level, says Eduardo Carrera, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico in this interview with Beet.TV recorded at the Vimenti Project, the island’s first charter school, which is operated by the Club. Carrera, […]

 
 

Finding Hope in San Juan: Our Mini-Doc Produced with the Weather Channel

SAN JUAN, PR –  Ten days ago, I visited a neighborhood in San Juan called Santurce.  Amid the damaged and mostly darkened public housing complexes, we met dozens of community members at the Boys & Girls Club of Puerto Rico. The young and old came for tutoring, leadership training, recreation and hot meals.   The Club, one […]

 
 

Boys & Girls Club On Vieques Becomes ‘Community Center’ After Hurricane Maria: President Olga Ramos

MIAMI – Sometimes, small miracles happen in the midst of huge catastrophes. The Puerto Rican island of Vieques was largely cut off from the world when Hurricane Maria made land on Sept. 20, but its Boys & Girls Club facility remained intact and quickly became a hub of relief activity. “Luckily, our club in Vieques […]

 
 

ViequesLove’s Stephen Mueller: Providing Hurricane Relief ‘Takes A Lot Of Organization And Creativity’

MIAMI – Even on the best of days, things can go awry on Vieques, the island off Puerto Rico’s eastern coast. Water and power supplies can be cut, groceries may or may not be available, but people just help each other get by. So when a natural disaster the likes of Hurricane Maria happens, everyone […]

 
 

ViequesLove Raises Nearly $900,000 In Hurricane Maria Assistance

MIAMI – What took the federal government more than five days—to begin assembling aid for hurricane-ravaged Vieques—started the night of the storm among concerned citizens. That’s when Brittany Roush and Kelly Thompson, Editor and Publisher of Vieques Insider Magazine, started the group ViequesLove. It was done “with the intent of raising thirty thousand or forty […]

 
 

Hurricane Maria The Latest In A Series Of Crises For The American Red Cross

MIAMI – The last two months have been “a testament to what the American Red Cross can do,” with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico just the latest in a series of crises, says the organization’s Regional Communications & Marketing Director, Grace Meinhofer. “Three hurricanes, the California fires, we helped with the shooting in Las Vegas […]

 
 

Funding Gap Constrains Boys & Girls Club Puerto Rico Relief Efforts: President Olga Ramos

MIAMI – It’s easy to forget that before Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, the island was in dire economic straights. One of the organizations that realizes this the most is the 50-year-old Boys & Girls Club Puerto Rico. Before Maria, 90% of the group’s participants—mainly youths ages six to 18—were below the poverty level on […]

 
 

Team Rubicon’s Puerto Rico Relief Efforts Are About To Get A Boost In Visibility

Editor’s note: This interview with Joe Rockhill runs to 5:30. In the rest of the video, Team Rubicon’s Michael Lloyd provides an overview from Isabella, Puerto Rico. MIAMI – There are only so many first responders in a particular city or an entire country to deal with natural disasters like Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. […]

 
 

On a Puerto Rico: It’s Back To Basics Media Tools for P&G and its Agency Hearts & Science

MIAMI – Once a natural disaster occurs, it’s back to basics. For agencies and marketers it can mean using billboards to reach people who don’t have power or Internet connectivity. For brands like Procter & Gamble, it can be dispatching mobile units to wash, dry and fold clothes for the recovering community. In the wake […]

 
 

In Disasters, Brands Need to Step in with “Authenticity,” Omnicom LATAM CEO Porras

MIAMI – The efforts of clients like Walmart, Procter & Gamble and AT&T in responding to humanitarian crises in Mexico and Puerto Rico demonstrate “authenticity and doing the right thing,” says the CEO of Omnicom Media Group’s LATAM operations. “Brands belong to society and are part of society,” Julian Porras says following the launch of […]

 
 

‘We Are Americans. Americans Help Each Other’: NY Congresswoman Nydia Valezquez On Puerto Rico’s Plight

The news media can play a major role in communicating the desperate plight of survivors of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. “I beg you to please don’t forget your responsibility to continue to bring light into the humanitarian crisis that is happening in Puerto Rico,” Congresswoman Nydia Valezquez, D-NY, said at a news conference in […]

 
 

Media Industry Launches Puerto Rico Support Campaign

Omnicom Media Group and Beet.TV  In a Call to Action with Founding Sponsors AT&T AdWorks and Teads  #SWPR As some 600 marketing, media and adtech executives gather at the Festival of Media/LATAM conference near Miami on October 30, a program  STAND WITH PUERTO RICO will launch to galvanize industry action to help Puerto Rico. In this video […]

 
 

Media Industry Stands with Puerto Rico in New Initiative #SWPR

Companies in the advertising and media industry can provide relief for victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico not only by their contributions but also by raising awareness of the dire conditions on the island, says Congressman José E. Serrano, D-NY. “Use their clout to let the federal government know that this is a humanitarian […]