“What are the internal and external challenges that cohort members face in order to reach their mission?” This was the question that kickstarted the second RJS cohort meeting, held at the Fideicomiso del Caño Martín Peña facilities in the community of Buena Vista Santurce, San Juan.

El Enjambre, our session facilitators and part of the cohort, started with an icebreaker that looked to integrate everyone’s objectives and expectations. In preparation for this meeting, all organizations had to prepare a short three minute video, where they explained one project that symbolized their work and answered the following questions: (a) what is your organization’s mission? (b) what is your main project? (c) what are the strengths of your project?

Each organization identified their strengths and weaknesses, and proceeded to play their video. After that, the cohort had 15 minutes to ask questions and go more in depth about the needs of each organization.

The purpose of this space was for the organizations to be transparent and honest, in order to receive the best feedback possible. After that, all of the suggestions made by each organization were placed on a dedicated poster board by the cohort members. Some of the recommendations focused on:

• Promoting legislation
• Managing external expectations
• Alliances with similar entities
• Celebrating milestones and achievements
• Create alliances with financial sectors
• Develop community workshops
• Establishing real and measurable scope, metrics and objectives

Based on this feedback, cohort members agreed to collaborate on an asset bank, where each organization can share services, resources and tools that they can offer to other organizations. This system allows them to easily collaborate with each other and invest in their respective sectors.

This is the purpose of RJS: connecting organizations with similar capacities in order to create opportunities of learning and collaboration. Here you can find a quick recap of everything that happened on July 6th. We are excited to see how this cohort continues evolves throughout the three years! This is just the beginning