About

The Puerto Rican Research and Data Consortium is a collaboration among research centers, hubs, programs and initiatives that study the Puerto Rican experience.

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CONTEXT

The idea of creating a Puerto Rican Research and Data Consortium of university-based centers, institutes, programs and initiatives that study Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans grew out of a conversation between Carlos Vargas Ramos (CENTRO, Hunter College), Fernando Rivera (Puerto Rico Research Hub, UCF) and Charles R. Venator-Santiago (UConnPRSI) during a meeting in the 2024 Biennial National Convention of the National Puerto Rican Agenda (NPRA). The NPRA Convention took place on March 15 & 16, 2024 in Philadelphia, PA.

In that meeting it became apparent that, although there are several sources of data, research, and policy documents addressing the inequalities that Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans experience, there is no centralized repository to inform public policy with relation to Puerto Rican issues both stateside and on the archipelago.

diagram showing the puerto rican research & data cosortium being made up of partners

Likewise, we also realized the need to harmonize our data. We agreed to explore the possibility of creating a research and data consortium that could support the individual initiatives of the member centers, institutes, programs and initiatives, that would foster an exchange of data and other sources of knowledge, and that would further promote a uniform use of data. Central to our initial conversations was the goal of using research to address various inequalities affecting Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans more generally. 

GOAL

Our goal was to identify ways that we could address the data and public policy needs of our Puerto Rican communities. We centered our discussion around the following questions:

1 What data is needed to help various stakeholders?
2 What type of data is needed?
3 What themes or subjects (or variables) are more important (i.e. population size, age and gender distribution, educational attainment, socio-economic indicators, etc.)?
4 What geographical level of data is needed?
5 How should we present this data or information (i.e. online tables, charts/figures/tables, dashboards, reports, data sheets, etc.)?
6 With what frequency should these data be released or shared?
7 What are important priorities (i.e. legislative budgets, redistricting, legislation, campaigns)?

MISSION

The Puerto Rican Research and Data Consortium is a collaboration among research centers, hubs, programs and initiatives that study the Puerto Rican experience. Central to this collaboration is an effort to share and disseminate data, information and research, develop standards for collection, use and analysis of data, and develop research partnerships.

Our goal is to provide data driven research that can be helpful to the community at large including students, policy makers, community leaders, community-based organizations, elected officials, the press, civic leaders, fellow scholars and educators, and the public more generally.

puerto rican flags being waved at parade