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Saturday, October 24, 2026 · UTC
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A $30 million federal anchor and a $100M capital stack: Puerto Rico's place-based anti-poverty bet opens its hub in 2027

Platform for Social Impact, one of six EDA Recompete awardees nationally, is building a 136,000-square-foot hub in Villa Prades - a San Juan neighborhood with 47% poverty - and says over $100M is already committed.

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Platform for Social Impact, a San Juan nonprofit founded in 2022 and led by longtime Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico leader Eduardo Carrera, has assembled more than $100 million across blended capital vehicles to fund place-based economic mobility in Puerto Rico. The federal anchor is a Recompete grant of approximately $30 million from the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration, announced in August 2024 for the Villa Prades public housing community in San Juan. The award came through the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program, authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act with $1 billion authorized and $200 million appropriated to date. The Oasis Expansion Recompete Plan was named one of 22 finalists in December 2023 and stands as one of six implementation awardees selected nationally. EDA's award page states the plan leverages more than $130 million in complementary investment from the Government of Puerto Rico and the City of San Juan. The geography is one of the island's most distressed. Villa Prades has a 47 percent poverty rate - more than four times the national average - and many residents depend on informal employment. The service area reaches 76,000 residents. The physical anchor is the Oasis Hub, a 136,000-square-foot facility co-owned by PSI and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico. Construction is more than 50 percent complete, with opening projected for early 2027. The hub anchors Oasis 360, a coordinated system operating within a 2.5-mile radius along the San Juan-Carolina corridor, integrating education, workforce development, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and policy. Four organizations deliver programs under the PSI umbrella: Vimenti, which runs Puerto Rico's first K-12 public charter school; Project Makers, an entrepreneurship incubator; the Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud, which leads benefits-cliff policy work; and healthcare provider Vidalus. PSI itself does not deliver services directly - it structures the capital and governance behind them. PSI's ambition is set against a scale problem the platform itself cites: more than 1.6 million people live in or near poverty in Puerto Rico, according to the organization's own materials, which draw on census data.
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Background reading
  1. Platform for Social Impact was founded in 2022. · impactpr.coColombia
  2. Platform for Social Impact is led by Eduardo Carrera. · impactpr.coColombia
  3. Eduardo Carrera worked over two decades at Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico. · impactpr.coColombia
  4. Platform for Social Impact has mobilized over $100M capital. · impactpr.coColombia
  5. The $30 million award is granted to Platform for Social Impact in San Juan Puerto Rico. · document
  6. Oasis Expansion Recompete Plan was named a Recompete Finalist in December 2023. · document
  7. Oasis Expansion Recompete Plan is one of six selected Recompete implementation awardees. · document
  8. The Recompete program was authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act. · document
  9. Recompete was authorized $1 billion; EDA has received $200 million appropriated to date. · document
  10. Over $130 million complementary investment comes from Puerto Rico and San Juan governments. · document
  11. Villa Prades has a 47 percent poverty rate. · document
  12. Many Villa Prades workers depend on informal employment. · document
  13. Villa Prades public housing community has 76,000 residents. · document
  14. Oasis Hub is 136000 square feet in size. · impactpr.coColombia
  15. Oasis Hub is co-owned by PSI and Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico. · impactpr.coColombia
  16. Oasis Hub construction is over 50% complete. · impactpr.coColombia
  17. Oasis Hub is projected to open in early 2027. · impactpr.coColombia
  18. Oasis 360 operates within a 2.5-mile San Juan-Carolina corridor. · impactpr.coColombia
  19. Four entities operate under PSI: Vimenti, Project Makers, IDJ, Vidalus. · impactpr.coColombia
  20. Vimenti runs Puerto Rico's first K-12 public charter school. · impactpr.coColombia
  21. PSI does not deliver services directly to communities. · impactpr.coColombia
  22. Over 1.6 million people live in or near poverty in Puerto Rico. · impactpr.coColombia
  23. Platform for Social Impact is lead applicant for the Oasis Expansion Recompete Plan. · document
  24. The Oasis Expansion Recompete Plan serves Villa Prades community in San Juan, Puerto Rico. · document
The one we could place publishes from Colombia. 1 could not be placed by their address. None is an official body: that part stands on reporting, not on the underlying document or transcript.