What do we do in P.E.C.E.S., Inc.?
P.E.C.E.S., Inc. provides prevention services, education and entrepreneurial training to communities in Puerto Rico’s southeastern region to foster socioeconomic development for the residents in the area.
Since our foundation in 1985, we believe in participatory, self-sustained and community-based processes for people to achieve their personal and collective development goals.
Each year we serve more than 25,000 people through a variety of initiatives, including:
• Educational and coaching activities that help them in their personal and social development,
• A Center for Community Economic Development with a small-business incubator for community microbusinesses,
• P.E.C.E.S. Community School, an accredited alternative-education high school for teens either at risk of dropping out of school or who have already done so,
• Prevention centers focused on personal development, counseling, social work services and parenting skills development, and
• Centers for academic development offering tutoring for students
Mission
To promote the educational, economic, and social development of southeastern Puerto Rico.
Vision
To be recognized for excellence in the development of leaders, community service, and in education with a preferential option for youth development.
Our Board of Directors
President
Sr. Gerardo Rivera
Vice President
Dra. Alexandra Amaro Ortiz
Secretary
Lcdo. Edgardo Jiménez Calderín
Treasurer
Sr. Jorge García Noya, CPA
Sub-Treasurer
Sr. Luis E. Cestero Casanova, MBA
Directors
Sr. Ramón Santiago Lizardi, CPA
Sra. Beatriz Archilla Muñoz
Sra. Carmen Elena Feliciano Sepúlveda
Sr. Eric Grafals Medina
Sra. Ivette Díaz Rivera
Lcda. Maria Betancourt
Executive Board
Sr. José J. Oquendo Cruz, M.C., M.S.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Sr. Carlos A. Vázquez Rosario, M.S.
Vice President of Operations
Hmna Nancy Madden George, M.S.W.
Founder and Vice President of Planning and Development
Andy Vicens Medina, M.B.A.
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Pedro Morales Oquendo, PHD
Senior Vice President Social Entrepreneurship
Sa. Myrta Lebrón Cruz, M.C.
Vice President of Community Prevention
and Resilience
Sa. Ivonne Ortiz Arroyo, M. Ed.
Senior Vice President
of Educational Programs
Our Beginnings
A group of active and committed neighbors from the Punta Santiago sector in Humacao provided the perfect environment for the birth of our organization.
By the early 1980’s, leaders had identified two critical issues in the community: unemployment and low educational levels due to high school dropout rates. While working on a plan to address those, they faced another important challenge: a plan to build a wastewater treatment plant amid the local coastal forest. The neighbors understood such a proposal was a threat to the community’s health and wellbeing and to its natural resources.
With perfect timing, Sister Nancy Madden, MSW, arrived in Humacao to work with youth groups, and noticed both the budding leadership skills and a need for education and support for teenagers in the Punta Santiago community.
So while the environmental issue inspired the community to address the development challenges, Sister Nancy worked with local teenagers and fishermen in the process of solving their educational and social needs. At the end, they came all together on behalf of the community by founding our organization.
Programa de Educación Comunal de Entrega y Servicio (P.E.C.E.S., Inc.) was created in 1985 to provide holistic services in the areas of prevention, education and job-readiness. Its name conveys the message that the organization trains participants of all ages to serve their neighborhood and Puerto Rico.
From the start, we have used our self-sustainability model to deal with neighborhood needs like sanitary sewage, street paving, an alternative school, and many other projects.
Though all community members benefit from different programs, most services are focused on children and teenagers, as they are the future of our neighborhood and the world.