On the heels of receiving the 2019 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at the 50th Anniversary San Diego Comic-Con International’s Eisner Awards, graphic novelist, activist, and philanthropist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez returns to Puerto Rico alongside his wife Kyung Jeon-Miranda, director of the La Borinqueña Grants Program, for the 2nd annual La Borinqueña Awards Ceremony. This event is inspired by the work of Miranda-Rodriguez who created the critically acclaimed and best-selling self-published graphic novel series La Borinqueña and the benefit anthology Ricanstruction: Reminiscing & Rebuilding Puerto Rico which teams-up his character with Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and many other DC Comics characters. The second annual La Borinqueña Awards Ceremony will take place on Saturday, August 24, 2019 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This year’s venue has been generously donated by the Office of the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz.
The 2019 La Borinqueña Grantees are Asociación Mayagüezana de Personas con Impedimentos, CORALations, Creative Justice Initiative, Departmento de la Comida de Puerto Rico, and Mujeres Ayudando Madres (read about these organizations below). These organizations each represent different areas of the island of Puerto Rico and provide sustainable work to children, women, and their respective communities. Their work is truly reflective of the values from Miranda-Rodriguez’ character La Borinqueña.
This year we will also award our very first La Borinqueña Heroína de las Artes to Grammy Award winning artist Ileana Cabra Joglar, for her dedication to Puerto Rico and for her platform as a recording artist advocating for Puerto Rico. She gave life to the lyrics of Lola Rodríguez de Tío singing La Borinqueña on July 17, 2019 during what would be one of the most important and historic nights of social justice and protest leading up to the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosséllo of Puerto Rico. Her award also comes with a $1000 donation towards a non-profit organization in Puerto Rico of her choice - Coordinadora Paz para las Mujeres.
"La Borinqueña is a superhero that I created in the spirit of the young people that took to the streets to denounce and succeed in the resignation of the corrupt Governor Ricardo Rosselló. Our work with this character is dedicated to raise awareness around the recurring humanitarian crisis that Puerto Rico finds itself due to the imposed austerity measures introduced by PROMESA and the struggling recovery after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. We also honor and respect the resilience of Boricuas who survive, fight back, and win victoriously. We are committed to use our graphic novels to advocate for the rights of the 3.3 million Puerto Ricans on the island and to fundraise to establish a sustainable grants program that supports the work of the true heroes on the island of Boriken." - Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
Ileana 'Ile' Cabra Joglar received the 2017 Grammy for her debut album 'ilevitable.' Via her music she embraces Puerto Rican traditional and contemporary musical influences. With her second album 'Almadura' she introduces bomba rhythms to her reportoire and tackles social justice issues via her debut single "Odio."
As an activist, she alongside other celebrities united with hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who in total protested for 15 days, July 11-26, 2019. They were calling for the resignation of the former governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, who was exposed for his corruption and abuse of power when 900 pages of private chats were revealed to the public. At the height of this peaceful revolution on the night of July 24, 2019, Ile gave life to the lyrics of the original national anthem of Puerto Rico La Borinqueña, written by Lola Rodríguez de Tío.
As an artist, she continues to use her platform to stand for social justice. In her own words she proclaims "don't be afraid to be a feminist," to her fans at her concerts. Her art denounces sexism, and violence towards women. As recipient of our 2019 'Heroina de las Artes' Ileana donates her award to Coordinadora Paz para las Mujeres in the spirit of continuing to fight for social justice and equality for Puerto Rican women.
iLe
Website: https://ilevitable.com
For the past 13 months, AMPI has been working for the benefit, not only of the community that represents adults with intellectual disabilities, but have taken the initiative to help families who were affected by the devastating Hurricane Maria which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017. One of the projects of greater scope and to which AMPI have given priority, is the development of the Community La Chorra, a poor community within the city of Mayagüez. Among the works that were completed were raising roofs, repairing homes, providing emergency equipment, repairing electrical damages and developing a community garden, a playground and the location of a bio digester and the creation of a center of sustainable energy within this community.
ASOCIACIÓN MAYAGÜEZANA DE PERSONAS CON IMPEDIMENTOS
3085 Calle Nelson Colon final, Mayagüez, PR 00680
Website: https://www.ampipuertorico.org
Telephone: 787.832.7460
Executive Director: Esther L. Caro, caro_esther@yahoo.com
CORALations is a non-profit coral reef conservation organization founded in 1995 based in Culebra, Puerto Rico. CORALations' conservation projects are conducted using a multidisciplinary task force of scientists, engineers, and other professionals as advisors. The Ocean Conservation Youth Corps (OCYC) offers an annual course for local young people between the ages of 10 and 18 in Culebra with a long-term goal of creating educated and pro-active members of island and coastal communities empowered with the knowledge and commitment needed to conserve and protect valuable coastal ecosystems for their and future generations.
CORALations
PO Box 750, Culebra, Puerto Rico 00775
Website: http://www.coralations.org/
Telephone: 787.556.6234
Executive Director: Mary Ann Lucking, maryann@coralations.org
Creative Justice Initiative is a new non-profit organization founded by Dr. Marta Moreno Vega that will look to develop an economic framework of cultural arts for community development from an Afro-Scientific perspective in Loiza/Piñones, Puerto Rico. With the recent securing of a building in Loiza, this facility will be named Corredor Artes Loiza and will provide workshops for youth and adults focused on history, memory, and development of skills in tour preparedness, silkscreen production and handcrafted traditional art making. In addition, the new space will provide workshops in music, dance, song, theater, storytelling, and writing. The long term goal for Corredor Afro is to create a central location to promote tourism in Loiza/Piñones.
Creative Justice Initiative
Santillana del Mar - 58A 00772
Website: coming soon
Executive Director: Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, drmartamorenovega@gmail.com
The Agency’s Farm Fellowship Program addresses the need for decolonization through food as a way to shift the colonial/extractive experience to an autonomous/regenerative ecosystem for all. This program provides 3 agroecological food producers with 6 months of consultative service and support from a team to advance their business, food production, and ecological stewardship goals. The program works with each project at the outset of their fellowship to identify what areas of impact are most meaningful, and track results in those areas throughout the fellowship. Because each fellow has a unique story, vision, and challenges, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when working with these agroecological projects. Departamento de la Comida directly supports agroecological food projects in Puerto Rico in this model, but in doing so also supports women-run businesses, connects students to farmers for volunteer brigades and educational exchanges, and supports existing farms to advance their regenerative ecological practices.
Departamento de la Comida de Puerto Rico
PO Box 6588, San Juan, PR 00914
Co Directors: Tara Rodríguez Besosa, tara@eldepartamentodelacomida.org
Kieran Murray, kieran@eldepartamentodelacomida.org
Mujeres Ayudando Madres (MAM) is a non-profit organization with the objective of educating and supporting families during the pregnancy process. MAM promotes a culture of peace for birth, focused on achieving a safe birth experience that protects the physical and psychological health of the family. Founded in San Juan in 2007, MAM offers gynecological/obstetric, midwifery, psychological, legal and educational services, focused on supporting the development of educated and fortified families to face pregnancy. The objective of the project is to provide women with a woman-centered, family focused, and Puerto Rican-specific teaching guide for community health education, thereby extending the mission of Centro MAM. This will expand the reach of MAM significantly into underserved communities and further empower local leaders and women to take charge of their own lives and community to further strengthen families and the overall health of the island.
Mujeres Ayudando Madres (MAM)
Calle Dalia #11, Carolina, Puerto Rico 00979
Website: http://mujeresayudandomadres.com/
Telephone: 787.945.5000
Director: Vanessa Caldari, mam@mujeresayudandomadres.com
