Cultivation of a Community Partnership: The Philadelphia Foundation and the Taller Puertorriqueño

Joseph Gonzales, Emerging Leader, International Fellows Program ~ 2005

Abstract

Joseph Gonzales's paper examines how a thirty-year “partnership” between The Philadelphia Community Foundation and Taller Puertorriqueño, a community-based, ethnic arts and educational center in Philadelphia, benefited the foundation, the community and its organizations. He writes that the benefits to Taller include enhanced organizational capacity and assistance in cultivating an array of local resources, whereas the foundation has earned increased respect from the Latino community, gaining access to potential board members.

Gonzales underscores the ways that art, culture, and educational attainment promote civic engagement. In the case of Taller Puertorriqueño, this has meant offering an array of programs that use art and culture to address issues in education, health, and the environment.

The case study is offered as an example of the reciprocal benefits of partnership for large institutions (grantors) and smaller grassroots agencies (grantees). He concludes that the model described has enhanced the capacity of both organizations to serve the city and the region's Latino community.

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