B.E.R.I. (Blue Economy Resilience Initiative)

In early 2022, the ERSF formed B.E.R.I. (Blue Economy Resilience Initiative) to develop and implement a replicable education framework to train Puerto Rican NGOs and entrepreneurs to develop sustainable revenue models to support their efforts. While the program is not devoted to a single sector, the pilot project is focused on local NGOs and entrepreneurs working in Puerto Rico’s blue economy. The pilot will design and test a model of best practices to create sustainable jobs and training opportunities in the blue economy and to better protect the natural and built environment.

 BERI team members are subject matter experts from the IT and data analytics industry, social impact investors, business incubators and entrepreneurial development, and globally recognized community resilience consultants.

On October 18th, 2022, a month after Hurricane Fiona, members of BERI collaborated with the Southern Puerto Rico Economic Development District and the Economic Development Administration’s Hurricane Maria ERSF to lead a 1-day Learning Lab in Ponce for Puerto Rican public leaders to review and assess methods for crafting an effective disaster and recovery strategy while building for a more resilient future.

Over time, the initiative will engage in a wide variety of strategies including structuring hands-on learning to build capacity via real projects and creating a virtual Blue Economy data center of excellence to support the overall goal of building the capacity of NGOs to facilitate entrepreneurship and innovation leading to revenue streams not dependent on philanthropy, thus creating a platform for Blue Economy development.