programs

La Mesa Boricua is building connectivity, coherence, and capacity of existing Puerto Rican groups in Florida. FLIC’s La Mesa initiative brings together key Puerto Rican stakeholders from across Florida to build a grassroots movement, locally based but connected to both the archipelago and the centers of power (Tallahassee and D.C.).

We are in the midst of building local leadership groups in seven+ counties with a goal of building a list of 100K activated Puerto Rican voters statewide. We connect through in-person convenings, regular weekly phone calls, and regional meetings. We build coherence through celebrating our shared identity and culture. And we grow our capacity through collective action, leadership development training, and providing pass-thru grants to local groups.
In addition to FLIC, Alianza for Progress, Faith in Florida, Iniciativa Accion Boricua, the Puerto Rican Leadership Council of South Florida and many other volunteer-based organizations have all invested staff, in-kind and other tangible resources to support the project. This is important to note because these organizations bring a powerful sense of credibility to the project. But even more importantly, these organizations are now aligning at a statewide basis as part of La Mesa whereas before they were working in isolation.