In partnership with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mercy Corps and Hispanic Federation, Google.org has announced a $2 Million matching campaign for Puerto Rico in donations made June 8-20, 2018.
Funds raised will target small and medium businesses (SMBs)—with an emphasis on tourism, agriculture and fisheries.
In September 2017, Hurricane Maria became the worst storm to hit Puerto Rico in over 80 years. Small businesses were severely impacted, with an estimated 10,000 still closed today. Because Puerto Rico’s local communities are powered by small businesses, helping them recover is critical to the island’s economic and social recovery.
“Everyone on the island is working hard every day to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria. This new campaign comes at the perfect time to harness the robust energy and enthusiasm still felt by people all over the world,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Two nonprofits, Hispanic Federation and Mercy Corps, will be the beneficiaries of the funds.
“One out of three workers in Puerto Rico is employed by these businesses,” said Hector Mujica, Google.org’s regional manager for Latin America. “When we decided to return to Puerto Rico to offer support tailored to this stage of its recovery, we pursued an approach that looked not only at what funding could do for small businesses, but how our own in-house resources could amplify the impact.”
This effort began a few weeks ago when 35 of Google’s Latino employees, many with direct ties to Puerto Rico,brought not only their expertise in various business fields, but also digital tools designed by Google to help businesses improve their economic outlook.
Alfredo Garcia, a development manager, was one of them: “As a Puerto Rican Googler, I felt a strong sense of responsibility to help the island get back on its feet. As Google, we can provide business tools, resources and knowledge, in addition to funding that can help support the economy.”
The Google.org matching campaign will run June 8-20, 2018, through a dedicated landing page: g.co/supportPR.
The Hispanic Federation will revitalize agricultural industries and help communities transition to sustainable (resilient) materials and structures. Mercy Corps will support economic revitalization of tourism-oriented SMBs as well as supporting agricultural and fishery businesses.
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Google.org and Googlers donated over $1.5M in disaster relief support to the regions impacted, and many employees volunteered not only their money but their time through various efforts.
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