💸💪🏾Moneda Moves (06): Power to Puerto Rico
Morning, mi gente. 🇵🇷 It's been nearly a year since Hurricane Maria and major power outages in Puerto Rico. Only earlier this month, officials announced it was restored to most of the island's residents. For the record, at least 1.4 million customers lost electric service after the storm.
After Puerto Rico's electrical grid was destroyed, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority struggled to repair the damage. In April, when several agencies announced they were making significant strides to restoring power that is until a bulldozer wreaked havoc by working too close to a 230-kV connection from a generation facility, per Wired. Then, PREPA was heavily criticized for having signed a $300 million contract to restore power with a small firm out of Montana that only had two employees at the time, per CNN.
Restoring power to the people of Puerto Rico and getting by without it has taken an incredible amount of time, a mental toll and budget by families to keep a roof over their heads and small businesses afloat. That's exactly what we will cover today.
A PSA for all Moneda Moves readers -- if you are looking for more digests to receive news about Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria, check out Pa'Lante curated by Bianca Fortis at palante.news@gmail.com.
As always, keep reading, stay awake and don't forget to share this newsletter with your colegas using this link here. Have feedback? Find me at @LyanneAlfaro or @MonedaMoves. 👋🏾
Con poder,
Lyanne
We're keeping tabs/cuentas on what happened last week in the world of Latinx in business. We review studies, features and news updates as they relate to our community and underrepresented communities at large.
FEMA's housing aid draws to a close, leaving Puerto Ricans in limbo🏘: Around 135,000 Puerto Ricans fled to U.S. mainland after Hurricane Maria last fall. While 2,500 displaced residents are living in hotels and financially-backed by the Federal Emergency Management Association, this aid could come a close at the end of August. If it isn't extended, Puerto Ricans will have to either accept a paid ticket back to the island or staying mainland and finding shelter on their own. The story comes from Sarah Ruiz-Grossman at the Huffington Post.
Puerto Rico's governor appeals to entrepreneurs and investors💰: In an op-ed piece published by Wired, governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló states that as the island enters a new era of the "rebuilding process," he is "optimistic" for the future.
He cites having met with senior executives from Airbnb, Tesla, Facebook, LinkedIn and Uber on a recent trip to San Francisco and tax incentives for numerous industries in tech and finance.
What has tech done for Puerto Rico? 🤔: A very valid question posed by Nick Stockton at Wired is how the industry has helped or pledged to aid the island. This article focuses on big companies and the blockchain crowd. It highlights three initiatives in particular:
Alphabet X set out to provide cell service for four months with giant balloons via a project called Loon. Per Wired, text and data service were offered 250,000 T-Mobile and AT&T customers.
In April, Elon Musk said that Tesla batteries were delivering power at 662 locations in Puerto Rico.
In the last year, Wired reported that around 150 crypto entrepreneurs moved to the island, listing tax exemptions and passive income to people who spend at least six months on the island as incentives.
❓Questions I have in response to this piece are: How do we know which parts of the island were served by these initiatives? Are the solutions sustainable?
Get to know the powerful/potentes Latinx and up-and-comers in business.
The cost for a Puerto Rico-based entrepreneur to keep his small business open💡: PRI's The World did a great profile on José Saldaña and the cost of keeping the lights on in his home and business in El Yunque National Forest. “I have to pay for diesel, filters and the oil, it’s so expensive,” Saldaña told Carolyn Beeler, who reported the story. For diesel alone, he said he spent more than $300 a week. Though power restoriation is underway, the island's electrical grid is still fragile.
Put your money/monedita where your mouth is! These are Latinx entrepreneurs, business owners and thought leaders to consider backing.
Want to help Puerto Rico?✊🏾: Traveling there will help. Per Manolo Lopez, founder of the Cosa Nuestra Relief Fund, towns like Arecibo, Ponce, Mayagüez, Isabela, are ones that could really benefit from tourism as they depend on their local economy. Connect Relief educates people looking to do volunteering in person with opportunities like food distribution to home rebuilding following Hurricane Maria. Words come from Kathleen Squires for the New York Magazine.
Know other ways we can support the island of Puerto Rico? Drop me a notita and I will include in the next Moneda Moves. If you received this edition as a forwarded email, subscribe with this link. Keep supporting your fellow potentes...