More Puerto Ricans Stateside than on Island

In another interesting post from the Puerto Rico Sun, Clarisel brings this resource to the attention of her readers. I've heard that most of the movers in Puerto Rico have been working non-stop for some time now. As was seen in previous economic down turns in Puerto Rico, many families are leaving PR in search of better job opportunities in the main land U.S. So this observation by the National Institute for Latino Policy doesn't surprise me.

In my opinion, this is a trend that will continue until the Puerto Rico economy reaches some type of equilibrium between the number of jobs available and the number of people willing to work. If you ask me, this is one of the fundamental problems with the PR economy, not enough jobs to sustain the population. There just aren't enough companies and no amount of economic development is going to change that.

On Latino Policy (from prsun.blogspot.com)

The National Institute for Latino Policy recently provided some interesting information on Puerto Ricans stateside and how the stateside population continues to outnumber those living on the island.

Here's an excerpt of an entry from the Institute July 14 bi-monthly newsletter, edited by Angelo Falcon:

Puerto Rican Population Stateside
Continues to Exceed that of Puerto Rico

In 2004, the Atlas of Stateside Puerto Ricans documented for the first time the stateside Puerto Rican population exceeded that of Puerto Rico in 2003 by 163,246. The latest statistics from the Census Bureau, from the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS), estimates that this gap has grown: in 2006 there were 3,987,947 Puerto Ricans living stateside compared to 3,745,007 in Puerto Rico, meaning that there are 242,940 more Puerto Ricans stateside than in Puerto Rico. Does this development have implications for the politics and policy issues of the Puerto Rican community as a whole?

Interesting question. What do PRSUN readers think?

Anyway, if you are interested in Puerto Rican and Latino policy issues, the Institute's bi-monthly e-newsletter is a wonderful resource. It regularly features items related to Puerto Ricans.

Go to www.latinopolicy.org to subscribe.

By the way, the National Institute for Latino Policy was formerly known as the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy. It changed its name as a way of better representing policy issues impacting Latinos.

The National Institute for Latino Policy is a independent nonprofit and nonpartisan policy center established in 1982 to address Latino issues.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: lunchtimemama

Puerto Rican Music Roots & Beyond Project

When we found the Puerto Rico Sun blog, it was like we had discovered our long lost sister. As we learned more about our newly found sister, we discovered that the she was doing nearly the same thing we were doing with Dondequiera, only based out of and focused mostly on the Puerto Rican community residing in New York. After a quick meeting of the minds, we decided that it would be really cool to share some select articles from each others blog.

I think what excited Clarisel Gonzalez, the editor of the Puerto Rico Sun, and I was the opportunity to keep our readers in touch with a piece of their community that they normally might not be exposed. Since both of our audiences have such a strong cultural and familial link to the other, we became thrilled with the chance to strengthen those links. I hope that this new content gives Dondequiera a little bit of that New York flavor that everyone seems to love so much.

The first article I'm going to share is about the Puerto Rican Music Roots & Beyond Project. I totally support anything that preserves the Puerto Rican cultural heritage, in this case its strong musical history. Enjoy!

From left, Leticia Rodriguez, executive director of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc., and class participant Hector Ortega at a July 6 event in NYC's El Barrio that focused on Puerto Rican roots music.

La Casa as well as El Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College is working with William Cepeda, a renowned composer, trombonist, educator, producer and artist, on a project titled “Puerto Rican Music Roots and Beyond.” The New York State Music fund and the National Endowment for the Arts is helping to fund the project. The goal is to promote Puerto Rico’s musical heritage to a wide audience throughout New York State, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere. The project will document four genres (Bomba, Plena, Danza, and Musica Jibara) by recording the concerts and other project activities to be used in the creation of DVDs and CDs for educational and commercial release. La Casa is located at 1230 Fifth Avenue, Suite 458. It is a nonprofit, cultural and educational institution. For more information, , visit http://www.lacasapr.org/-- Ismael Nuñez (photo by Ismael Nuñez) Courtesy of the Puerto Rico Sun