Puerto Rico
Flamboyan Foundation opened its doors in Puerto Rico in 2006 with the mission of improving local public schools and increasing effective philanthropic giving in PR. In 2011, out of 1,482 schools, 1,277 are not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. Our students’ math scores on National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) are the worst in the country, with over 94% of 4th grade students below proficient.
Given Puerto Rico’s complicated public education landscape, we knew we needed allies and data to reverse this trend.
We created an informal group called the Friends of Public Education to address both needs. The “Friends” asked Flamboyan to commission three studies:
1. An outline of the legal and financial framework of federal funding for PRDE;
2. A profile of our 1,500 school directors and the challenges they faced as school leaders;
3. A report on the characteristics of schools that were doing better than average in our local standardized tests.
Based on what we have learned and shared with the broader community, Flamboyan is better positioned to play a role in driving the transformation of Puerto Rico’s public education system.
Because we were interested in the potential of philanthropy to drive social change in Puerto Rico, we asked other foundations about their strategies for giving and how they viewed philanthropy on the island. We found a tremendous opportunity to improve weak tax incentives for giving and the need to move from a model of charity to one of philanthropy. Flamboyan has made these challenges the centerpiece of our work in Inspiring Effective Philanthropy, and we are greatly motivated by some of our recent accomplishments.
Staff
Yolanda Cabassa
Program Officer: Puerto Rico
Yolanda Cabassa joined Flamboyan Foundation Puerto Rico office in March 2008. She co-leads and is responsible for managing and supporting grant-making strategies in the area of Inspiring Effective Philanthropy.
Since its establishment in 2009 and as part of her work at Flamboyan, Yolanda chairs the Puerto Rico Donors’ Education Collaborative site committee, a pooled fund established by four local foundations in partnership with Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) to provide capacity building grants to Puerto Rico based nonprofits working in the area of education.
From 1995 to 2005, her career path has been shaped with successful work experiences in business development, online marketing, project management, and legislative affairs in Washington, D.C., New York City and Puerto Rico.
From 2005 to 2008, she worked as an independent consultant, a translator and project manager for diverse clients in the profit and nonprofit sectors. This independence allowed her to actively volunteer most of her time to Iniciativa Comunitaria (ICI), a nonprofit community organization that provides health, education and prevention services to populations at risk. She also fundraised for and served as project manager of a health-related humanitarian project in Guatemala lead by Iniciativas de Paz- ICI’s international volunteer program, and served as president of ICI’s Board of Directors from 2007 to 2009. This 4-year period was a life-changing experience in her life.
She is currently a volunteer at Sapientis and ICI’s Operación Compasión.
Yolanda holds a B.S. in Languages and Linguistics from Georgetown University.
Kristin Ehrgood
President and Board Chair: Puerto Rico
Kristin Ehrgood is the President and Board Chair of Flamboyan Foundation. Additionally, she is the founder of Sapientis, a nonprofit organization dedicated to mobilizing a diverse and informed network of change agents committed to improving the quality of public education in Puerto Rico, and was part of the founding team of DC School Reform Now, a non-profit organization committed to supporting education reform in Washington, D.C.
After earning her master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2001, Kristin and fellow Kennedy School alumnus Vadim Nikitine started Sapientis in Puerto Rico. In the spring of 2005, her work at Sapientis was recognized by Ernst & Young when she was named Entrepreneur of the Year in the area of Social Responsibility.
Kristin attended Bucknell University, where she earned a B.A. in International Relations, before joining Teach For America and teaching for three years. She later joined the Teach For America staff as Executive Director of their New Jersey region and then as Director of New Site Development.
Kristin currently lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Vadim Nikitine, their son, Pavlik, and their black lab, Zubi. She also sits on the boards of Sapientis, DC School Reform Now, Stand for Children, Teach For America *D.C. Region, and Venture Philanthropy Partners.
Guiomar García Guerra
Executive Director: Puerto Rico
Guiomar García Guerra is the Executive Director of Flamboyan Foundation, Puerto Rico office. In this role, she is responsible for shaping, implementing, and overseeing all aspects of Flamboyan Foundation’s strategy in Puerto Rico.
Before joining Flamboyan in 2007, she worked independently as a consultant to several nonprofit organizations based in Puerto Rico, including education and nature conservation ONGs, universities, and private schools. Her work included strategic planning, donor development and fundraising, program evaluation and conceptualization of new programs to help nonprofits reach their organizational goals.
Guiomar also worked as Development Officer at the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, where she established Giving Circles as a new vehicle for philanthropic giving. Before returning to Puerto Rico in 2002, where she was born and raised, Guiomar worked as Education Program Officer at the Wallace Foundation in New York City. At Wallace, she managed the Ventures in Leadership fund, a grant-making program created to invest in innovative leadership programs for public school administrators across the United States.
While pursuing her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), Guiomar worked as Teaching Fellow at HGSE and as Associate Researcher at Education Matters, conducting a multi-year study on the impact of district-wide school reform in Boston Public Schools and their partnership with the Boston Plan for Excellence. Guiomar has taught Preschool in Seattle, WA and Kindergarten-3rd grade at Escuela Juan Ponce de León in Puerto Rico. She received her undergraduate degree from Williams College in 1991.
Erika O'Neill
Administrative Assistant: Puerto Rico
Erika O'Neill joined Flamboyan Foundation since its beginnings in 2008 as an intern and now serves as Administrative Assistant. In this role, she is responsible for supporting the daily work of the foundation. Erika graduated in 2009 from Josefa Pastrana High School in Aguas Buenas and is currently a sophomore in Huertas College studying health sciences with a concentration in nursing. In 2005, Erika worked at the Office of the Assistant Secretary in the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in 2007 she was an assistant teacher at a summer camp in an elementary school in Caguas. Erika has volunteered in Casa Cuna San Cristobal, at senior centers and organizations that provide services to homeless people.
Anette Ruiz
Program Assistant: Puerto Rico
Anette Sofía Ruiz Morales is the Program Assistant at Flamboyan Foundation- Puerto Rico office. In this role, she supports the area of Inspiring Effective Philanthropy, and the Foundation’s in-house communication efforts, such as the website.
Anette recently joined Flamboyan after 5 years of professional experience in local and national organizations, such as Prensa Comunitaria, Corporation for National & Community Service, National Council of La Raza, and Kettering Foundation. She has a B.A. in journalism with a minor in anthropology from The University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, and is currently developing her thesis for a M.A. in Media and Contemporary Culture from Universidad Sagrado Corazón.
Aside from working in Flamboyan, Anette supports the development of a critical thinking and news literacy project in the Center for the Freedom of the Press as an Assistant of the Director, and she is involved in two international networks: the Dialogues for Thought Leaders in Media of Images and Voices of Hope and the Deliberative Democracy Network of the Kettering Foundation.