A Puerto Rico leadership initiative, sponsored by NeighborWorks America and its partners, is helping leaders tap into larger networks of support to help them in their work managing nonprofits and supporting residents on the island. As the nearly yearlong capacity-building program initiative nears a close, the relationships and friendships flourish.
One such relationship is between Elizabeth Colon Rivera, executive director of Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., and her mentor, Maria Garciaz, CEO of NeighborWorks Salt Lake, who share some insights on what the program has meant to them.
Colon Rivera says she has spent the past two years reflecting positivity about what her staff has done and what they can do to help the people of Puerto Rico. The staff at Ponce NHS has heard her talk about each crisis they've faced – Hurricane Maria, an earthquake, the COVID-19 pandemic – as an opportunity. But the pandemic, she says, has been a real eye-opener. The organization has worked with three times as many people as usual since COVID-19 struck, for a total of 1,700.
"We have been doing so much work," says Colon Rivera. "But we can see how many families we've been helping and how many people we've been educating and housing. We have seen results. We've grown together. We're working as a team."
There is so much more to do, she says. One thing that is helping is the chance to talk with peers and mentors outside of her organization. Colon Rivera credits the Puerto Rico Nonprofit Leadership Development Initiative for that.
"The workshops have brought us all together," Colon Rivera says. The initiative's mentorship program has given her the chance to ask questions specific to her own, community-based housing nonprofit.
"I'm really enjoying the program," Colon Rivera says. "It's going further than other programs have."
The initiative, created by NeighborWorks America with Enterprise Community Partners, the Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, brings together a cohort of organizations in Puerto Rico for mentoring, peer learning and technical assistance. The organizations also receive up to $50,000 for staff and training as they help their island recover from natural disasters that haven't stopped. Going in, Colon Rivera had specific goals related to marketing and technology, with a goal of finding programs and applications to boost their marketing and promotion of services. That's still the goal. But she says the disasters that beset the island caused many of their goals to shift. As she's gone through the program, she's focused on leadership skills, and she's used those skills to help the organization pivot and reallocate resources.
With Garciaz, she has discussed how to be more effective engaging the board, organizational management, good leadership strategies, and how to understand the needs of the staff to implement better during difficult times.
"It has given me a focused insight based on her years of experience on how to manage, strategize, establish and implement effective and assertive policies and work modalities, which will help overcome challenges and be successful," Colon Rivera says. It also allows her to feel connected, just as the meetings allow board members to connect with one another.
Garciaz remembers when she was a new executive director in 1990. During the first five years – and even now – it meant a lot that she could reach out to other colleagues in the NeighborWorks network for advice. "It was phenomenal for me," she says. "It saved me a great deal of heartache – just the fact that they were there to listen to me."
While she could always talk to staff or board members, she says, "it's true, what they say, that it can be lonely at the top." While it wasn't formal mentoring, Garciaz says she shared a common bond with others across the NeighborWorks network. Even now, she says, she can reach out to any CEO and ask if they are willing to share expertise when her organization takes on a new project.
If she can help anyone avoid some of the headaches she's gone through by doing the same thing, she says, "I'm always happy to do that."
Garciaz says she tries to provide feedback or help Colon Rivera with challenges – but it's Colon Rivera who leads. "I let her balance the agenda," she says. "I say, ‘what's working for you? What challenges are you facing? How is your board involved and engaged?'"
And as nonprofits, they can relate to one another's achievements and obstacles.
Garciaz started working for NeighborWorks Salt Lake in 1986 as the YouthWorks coordinator and has been executive director for 30 years. "Despite this tenure, I learn something new every day, and I'm grateful I have the opportunity to help others where I can and appreciate the many opportunities to continue to grow my skills through our network of excellence."
Other mentors and mentees in the leadership program have talked about the importance of being able to talk with colleagues, especially during this time. And they've talked about the importance of being able to focus on nonprofit leadership in Puerto Rico, as the organizations work to help the island rebuild. That's something NeighborWorks recognized when the organization began working with partners to form the Puerto Rico Nonprofit Leadership Development Initiative.
03/18/2021
