Giving Compass' Take:

• Google Student Blog highlights an inspiring group of Hispanic philanthropists working to improve their communities in a variety of ways. 

• How can major donors best support local community efforts to institute change? 

• Learn more about philanthropy in Hispanic communities. 

Alejandro Chardon

Starting with the "Master Plan for Bicycles" at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Alejandro helped develop cycling infrastructure from scratch and paint the first bicycle lane in the history of the University of Puerto Rico. From this organization stemmed BiciCoop – the first bicycle shop established in the University of Puerto Rico. With this start-up, Alejandro and his co-founders created part-time jobs for students and promoted the culture of entrepreneurship on campus.

After Hurricane Maria, Alejandro, and hundreds of Puerto Rican students, left the island in search of better opportunities to continue their studies. The University of Central Florida granted them in-state-tuition for one semester. Alejandro quickly got involved with the Puerto Rican Student Association and helped put together a proposal to extend the in-state-tuition waiver for a whole year. As a result, the board of trustees extended the tuition waiver to Spring 2023.

Lesly Bohuchot

After coming back from a 2018 Python conference (PyCon), Lesly and another friend revived the Houston PyLadies MeetUp group that had been inactive for over two years. This time, however, they wanted it to be more than just a meet up. Lesly wanted to create an avenue for educational opportunities for young girls and women in general to get into STEM.

“So I took it upon myself, coordinating with a few other wonderful women to not only bring PyLadies back to Houston, but to turn it into an outreach and volunteer program.” They recently held a large event welcoming all women traveling to Houston for the Grace Hopper Celebration and are actively coordinating with schools and other programs to grow their impact. “I want the Houston PyLadies to stand on its own and grow to one be one of the biggest chapters in the country.”

Read the full article about inspiring Hispanic philanthropists at Google Student Blog.