Kora Insights Monthly | June 2023

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What is the Platform for Social Impact (PSI)?

PSI is an 501(c)(3) umbrella organization that raises capital to support a diverse portfolio of programs, organizations, and impact-first businesses to promote child well-being. We are the most significant anti-poverty movement in Puerto Rico, with 5 organizations, 500+ employees across 12 sites, and 1,000+ volunteer advocates supported through grassroots efforts.

Our core offering is Oasis, an opportunity hub designed to lift families out of poverty by providing quality education, social services, and economic opportunities to low-income families in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Why did you decide to join PSI as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Investments?

When my wife became pregnant with our first son, it shifted my mind to work towards a career focused even more closely on investing towards accelerating access to opportunities we did not have, with a particular focus on Puerto Rico. After his birth in the middle of the pandemic, it became urgently clear that the inequities those of us underrepresented in all fields, especially in finance, were not going to solve themselves if we did not shift how capital is allocated towards the most vulnerable in scalable solutions that work in the most inequitable of environments. I joined PSI as a way to work on solving those historical inequities in access to capital, health, education, and housing, among other areas affecting economic mobility for families, starting in my home, Puerto Rico, which has received the brunt of those inequities in the US context.

By 2032, how will PSI influence the lives of children and their families in San Juan, PR?

As it stands, 58% of 656,000 children in Puerto Rico live in poverty. Based on research from YDI, we estimate that a catalytic public and private investment of $22B over the next ten years will effectively cut child poverty in half in Puerto Rico. By leveraging global networks, public, and private capital, PSI aims to be the most impactful investor and operator of direct service programs outside the government of Puerto Rico by 2032.

How can others outside of PR elevate your work?

Help us tell the story of what IS working in Puerto Rico. Leverage your access to invite investors like us to the table and create new tables where solutions can be discussed and funded at the scale of the problem we are all paying for, regardless of our views on specific social issues. We need all-hands-on-deck focused on accelerating asset ownership among the most vulnerable in ways that accelerate economic mobility and the opportunity for a dignified life for all, not just the few lucky enough to escape the cracks in our current system.

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Thank You!