New pilot Spanish-language fellowship will invest in the next generation of Puerto Rican leaders shaping the Island’s cultural, civic, and economic future.
Washington, DC / San Juan, Puerto Rico — [August 20th, 2026] — Aspen Conexión, a division of the Aspen Institute elevating the global economic and cultural impact of the Hispanic community, recently announced the launch of the Aspen Puerto Rico Fellowship in partnership with Flamboyan Foundation. The Fellowship marks the Aspen Institute’s first leadership fellowship established in Puerto Rico and offered entirely in Spanish. This groundbreaking program will include up to 20 emerging leaders ages 25–45 from Puerto Rico and the continental United States to participate in cross-sector leadership seminars, network-building, and collaborative problem-solving focused on the Island’s future.
The fellowship seeks to bring together high-impact leaders and emerging experts already driving change across Puerto Rico’s business, cultural, civic, and public sectors, including arts and culture, education, philanthropy, technology, hospitality, sports and entertainment, entrepreneurship, and public service. Beyond the signature Aspen seminar experience, participants will develop action-oriented capstone projects designed to address real challenges facing the island, from strengthening entrepreneurship and youth engagement to advancing institutional capacity and cross-sector collaboration. Aspen Conexión and Flamboyan Foundation will open applications for the fellowship in fall 2026.
Puerto Rico has long been an incubator of culture, entrepreneurship, and innovation while playing a unique role in the relationship between the United States and the broader hemisphere. Yet despite its unique political and economic position within the United States and the Americas, Puerto Rican leaders are often underrepresented in the networks and spaces where major ideas, partnerships, and opportunities take shape. As the Island enters a new chapter of growth and possibility, this fellowship seeks to strengthen the relationships, leadership capacity, and cross-sector connections needed to help redefine Puerto Rico’s future from within.
“Puerto Rico has produced some of the most influential artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, journalists, and public servants in the world. What’s been missing is long-term investment in Puerto Rican leaders as a collective force,” said Pilar Frank-O’Leary, Executive Director of Aspen Conexión. “This fellowship is about building the first phase of that investment in a culturally relevant context. We want leaders from Puerto Rico thinking together, challenging each other, building relationships across sectors that last decades, and shaping what comes next for the Island on their own terms.”
Kristin Ehrgood, Co-Founder, CEO and Board Chair of the Flamboyan Foundation stated, “I have experienced firsthand as a Pahara-Aspen Fellow how valuable these fellowships are. Together with Aspen, we are building the infrastructure for Puerto Rican leaders to grapple with complex issues together, while elevating their voices and positioning Puerto Rico’s talent at the center of U.S. national and global conversations. This fellowship is about investing in Puerto Rico’s greatest asset, its people, by creating a space where leaders can reflect deeply, connect across sectors, and act with purpose rooted in culture and identity.”
Carlos Rodriguez Silverstre, Executive Director of Flamboyan Foundation in Puerto Rico added, “Puerto Rico is at an important inflection point. This is a moment to invest not only in programs, but in people and the relationships that help its society move forward. By creating a trusted leadership platform for reflection, dialogue, and collaboration, this fellowship will help unlock new ideas, new partnerships, and a stronger foundation for shared progress.”
This partnership brings together Aspen’s hallmark text-based, dialogue-driven leadership model with Flamboyan Foundation’s nearly two decades of on-the-ground work across the Puerto Rican archipelago in education, philanthropy, and arts and culture, including ongoing collaborations with Lin-Manuel Miranda on arts initiatives and recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria.
Aspen Conexión brings the Aspen Institute’s global leadership network and a track record of adapting the Aspen model for Hispanic-majority communities across the Americas, including the Hunt-Aspen Fellowship in the Borderplex region. Flamboyan Foundation brings nearly two decades of trusted investment and partnership across Puerto Rico’s civic, education, and cultural sectors. Together, the organizations aim to build more than a fellowship by strengthening the relationships, collaboration, and leadership pipeline needed to help shape Puerto Rico’s long-term growth, innovation and impact.
###
About Aspen Conexión
Aspen Conexión is a division of the Aspen Institute that deepens understanding and advances the economic, innovation and cultural impact of the Hispanic community across the U.S., the Americas and Spain, through action-oriented convenings, research, and leadership programs. For more information, visit aspenconexion.org.
About the Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges.It is recognized as one of the world’s most influential organizations in the field of leadership and the exchange of ideas. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
About Flamboyan Foundation
Guided by the belief that all children deserve the opportunity to live a fulfilling life, the Flamboyan Foundation works to ensure students most impacted by inequity are prepared to succeed in school and beyond.
At Flamboyan Foundation, we believe all children deserve the opportunity to thrive. Unfortunately, our society doesn’t always deliver on that opportunity – whether because of unforeseen natural disasters, a global pandemic, or a longstanding history of silencing the contributions and wisdom of Black and Brown communities, leading to broken trust. The Flamboyan Foundation is working to change that.