Carrera, who leads the 50-year-old chapter of the national organization, says that the goal of the Club is to raise the awareness of childhood poverty on the island and the mainland.

In the interview, he explains how the Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico (BGCPR) is expanding its role as an after-school activity center to a place where early education and family services are being architected to lift members out of poverty.

While education in Puerto Rico has been buffeted by financial problems, an exodus to the mainland and the consequences of Hurricane Maria, there is some optimism about the future as reported in this comprehensive overview in EducationNext.  It includes a detailed look at the innovation taking place at the BGCPR charter school Vimenti.  Find the report here:  Resilience, Hope, and the Power of the Collective: What Puerto Rico Can Teach the States about Education Reform

The Media Industry Unites in a New Initiative & Ambitious Next Step

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Beet.TV organized a group of media companies in an awareness campaign for Puerto Rico called Stand with Puerto Rico.  The efforts secured inventory and funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico.  Founding partners were AT&T, Omnicom Media Group and Teads.  As part of this initiative Beet.TV raised funds for charity at auctions held as its leadership events.  Generous auction contributions have been made by AT&T, Disney, DISH, NBCU, Comcast, FreeWheel, FOX, Turner and others.

Project Debut in Cannes, PSA’s in Q4

Beet.TV is organizing a larger group of partners to expand its service to the children of Puerto Rico by securing several million dollars in media inventory for awareness and fundraising as Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) on both digital and on television.   The solicitation of inventory has begun and will continue for the months ahead. The campaign will launch in Q4. It is also soliciting corporate donations made directly to the charity.

As part of the program, Beet.TV will produce a series of videos on childhood poverty taped  in Puerto Rico, New York and Washington, D.C.

Industry partners will participate in various ways:  They will provide media inventory, make a direct contribution to Boys & Girls Clubs of PR and partner with Beet.TV on the program execution.

The group is being lead by a steering committee including Mike Bologna, President/Addressable, Cadent and Marissa Jimenez, President, Modi Media/GroupM Worldwide.

The program will debut to the global media and advertising industry when it is presented at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in June.

If your company is unable partner with us, you can make a contribution directly to the organization which is a 501(c)(3) entity. 

Please join us! You can make it happen.

For more information contact andy@beet.tv

It was both inspirational and hopeful.

With a local crew, I co-produced this news segment on the Club which aired on the Weather Channel last Wednesday.  It will run as part of the network’s post hurricane special that will air this Sunday (12.3) at 10:00 pm.  (The video published on this page is a longer version of our reporting, edited by the Beet.TV team.)

A vast majority of the community visiting the Club live below the poverty level.  While many Puerto Ricans are leaving the island for the States, most of these residents of  San Juan have no option but to make the best of their lives on the island.

I sat down with several young people and their parents to talk about their experience. My takeaway: Like other communities who have survived trauma, this one is determined to rebound and succeed.

This production was underwritten by the Weather Channel.  It is part of the Stand with Puerto Rico industry initiative organized by Beet.TV with founding partners Omnicom Media Group, AT&T and Teads.  The focus of the group is is to drive donations and support for the Boys & Girls Club of Puerto Rico among the the media industry.

This Holiday Season, Please Donate

To make a donation to the Boys & Girls Club, please visit this page.

The Media Industry Steps Up at the Beet Retreat

Before leaving for San Juan, I produced our three-day Beet.TV executive retreat in Miami.  We raised nearly $10,000 for the Boys and Girls Club via a silent auction.  Huge thanks to those who gave items and made the generous donations: A+E Networks, AT&T AdWorks, Clinch, comScore, DISH Media Sales/Sling TV, Disney/ABC, Eyeview, FOX, GroupM w/ Rob Norman and Phil Cowdell, Innovid, Chef Jose Andrea & the SLS Brickell, LiveRamp, NBCUniversal, OATH, One2One Media, Target, TiVo, Turner, and Videology. Gracias!

Join Stand With Puerto Rico Meeting on December 15

We are planning an industry meeting of our group on Friday, December 15 in New York at AT&T offices in Rockefeller Center.  To get more information on this contact me andy(at)beet.tv

Hope you have a joyous holiday season and a super 2018.

“Luckily, our club in Vieques was directly affected but was not directly impacted. So we were able to reopen our club really fast,” says Olga Ramos, President of Boys & Girls Club Puerto Rico. “Our Vieques community is a small community and it’s committed. And our Boys & Girls Club has become kind of the community center for the Vieques people.”

The Club has been handling everything from assisting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide Housing & Urban Development meals, Ramos explains in this interview with Beet.TV.

“Basically our club is where all of the NGO’s are coming together to provide relief efforts and help to the island. Besides our educational program, we’re doing everything we can do to make sure that the community bounces back to normal.”

Located eight miles east of the Puerto Rican mainland, Vieques relies on its own water sources, which were shut down by Hurricane Maria. So finding replacement supplies has been at the forefront of most relief efforts.

“Last week, we were awarded by the Banco Popular Foundation a desalination plant that we’re going to be taking to Vieques next Monday,” Ramos says. “As well, we were able to get a community water tank that would allow us to provide water to the community, either filtered rain water or pond water and make sure that we provide safe water for our kids.

“Looking into the medium term, we’re partnering with other institutions to make sure that we provide a sustainable system where Vieques people can get purified water for drinking.”

On Sept. 20, when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, the group ViequesLove was formed to provide assistance to the island. As of Nov. 9, the group had raised $879,420 from 7,122 donors via its GoFundMe website.

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here. The series was recorded in Miami at the Festival of Media/LATAM on October 30. 

“Vieques is almost an indescribable place for most people. If you haven’t been there, if you haven’t lived there, it’s hard to understand it,” says Stephen Mueller, a Principal of the aid group ViequesLove who called the island home for three years. “There is something about the island, the community, the people there that’s just very different than what most of us have experienced.”

Since ViequesLove was formed the night that Maria struck Puerto Rico, it’s been juggling all manner of requests for assistance.

“We’ve gotten a lot of very interesting asks,” Mueller says in this interview with Beet.TV. “The most recent one that we did is we successfully got two radiators down there specific to the generators for water sanitation,” a route that stretched from Atlanta to Miami to the Puerto Rico mainland to Vieques.

“We’ve been lucky that we’ve been able to use private planes to get things down there,” Mueller adds. “There are a lot of moving pieces. It takes a lot of organization and creativity.”

Having been a resident and owned a business on Vieques, Mueller is well versed in the day in and day out milieu.

“Something as simple as going to the postal box requires about 30 minutes of your time, because inevitably you’re going to meet plenty of people that you know, and you all stop and chat, ask how their day’s going. It’s this huge sense of community and involvement.

“For the three years that we lived there, it was probably one of the best times of our lives and probably one of the few places that have truly felt like home.”

As of Nov. 6, ViequesLove had raised $873,696 from 7,084 donors via its GoFundMe website.

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here. The series was recorded in Miami at the Festival of Media/LATAM on October 30. 

It was done “with the intent of raising thirty thousand or forty thousand dollars,” says Roush, who is Principal at ViequesLove. As of Nov. 6, the group had raised $873,696 from 7,084 donors via its GoFundMe website.

In this interview with Beet.TV, Roush recounts how it was clear from the start that the island’s infrastructure would be ravaged and that residents would be displaced in large numbers. But the day after ViequesLove was created, there was no word of government aid coming to the island.

“I think that in all of our original discussions that had never even been a remote possibility,” Roush says. “The worst-case scenario would be five days. That’s what it was with Katrina and that was the worst FEMA response to date.”

As the fifth day approached, it became apparent that nothing was happening.

“So we spoke with a few people, all via Facebook, and found out that Robert Becker was going down to the island pretty much any way he could get down there,” Roush says, referencing the veteran Democratic political campaign manager.

Efforts to find a boat to ferry Becker to Vieques came up short due to port conditions. “So we immediately shifted to finding a plane. And we found a plane. And we found a pilot who was willing to take this on. To our knowledge, we were only the second group to have gotten a plane onto the ground on Vieques after the storm.”

It all came together “because people worked together. I think that speaks very much to the kind of people that move to Vieques or live on Vieques and the way that they just are,” says Roush.

She’s now sure what the future holds for ViequesLove. “But we know that for as long as we have the support of the community and we have the funding, we want to be there to serve the people of Vieques,” she adds. “That might be schools, it might be rebuilding projects. We don’t know. We’re going to continue to take it day by day for now.”

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here. The series was recorded in Miami at the Festival of Media/LATAM on October 30. 

“Three hurricanes, the California fires, we helped with the shooting in Las Vegas and we also assisted the Mexican Red Cross with the earthquake. We can’t do it without the help of volunteers and people who are ready to deploy at the time of need,” says Meinhofer.

In this interview with Beet.TV, Meinhofer welcomes additional volunteer manpower, but she stresses that preparation for any man-made or natural crisis requires advance preparation.

“There’s a need anywhere that there is a Red Cross chapter. This is the time for people to go to their local chapter, get training, get registered.”

When it comes to hurricanes, this has probably been the worst season the Red Cross has ever seen, according to Meinhofer.

“We heard about Irma and Maria coming right when we were working Hurricane Harvey,” Meinhofer says. “So as we are attending to two other hurricanes, Puerto Rico is also getting ready for the hit of Maria.”

In the U.S., the Red Cross manages some of the shelters that open when crises occur. “Puerto Rico is in charge of managing. So we support the government in whatever it is that they need to support the people from the island.”

To date, more than 500 Red Cross staff and volunteers have visited all 78 of the municipalities in Puerto Rico, according to Meinhofer, distributing food, water, Pampers and other supplies. “They come from anywhere. We have people from Alaska, we have people from Michigan.”

One of the group’s most important services has been “reunifying” people who are separated from their families because the power grid has been immobilized. The Red Cross uses satellites to reconnect them via their cell phones, regardless of whether family members are on Puerto Rico or elsewhere.

Acknowledging that the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico will be long-lasting, Meinhofer encourages the involvement of new Red Cross volunteers. “We can’t do it without the help of volunteers and people who are ready to deploy at the time of need,” she says.

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here. The series was recorded in Miami at the Festival of Media/LATAM on October 30. 

Before Maria, 90% of the group’s participants—mainly youths ages six to 18—were below the poverty level on the island, according to President Olga Ramos.

“When you look at that, our participants are lacking the main resources and opportunities that other kids on the island or outside of the island have,” Ramos says in this interview with Beet.TV.

While Boys & Girls Club Puerto Rico mainly provides educational services, after the hurricane hit “we saw the need and knew that we had to do some things differently,” Ramos adds.

So the organization converted its centers to community centers to provide food, water, shelter and other primary needs.

“Right now because of the storm, most of our schools are closed. The ones that are open are providing immediate services. Breakfast and lunch and some sort of educational support,” she says.

Phase one of the group’s post-hurricane is to provide limited services from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., owing to the lack of electricity. “Our second phase will be to expand from eight to six so we can pretty much provide parents relief and they can go back to work while we take care of their kids with educational support.”

Ramos cites a financial gap of $8 million, $5 million of which is to continue providing whatever services the organization can and continue to pay employees. The other $3 million would be earmarked for an expansion of services—mostly meals and educational assistance. Some $2.5 million of the $8 million has been collected to date.

“Any contribution that we can get from private donors will be used toward our mission, which is to develop our kids and youths to their full potential,” Ramos says.

Boys & Girls Club Puerto Rico’s longer-term aim is to narrow the gap between its beneficiaries and youths whose families are better off financially.

“We are diversifying our offer so we are able to cater to what the island economy’s needs are, which are in tourism, health and technology and science.”

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here. The series was recorded in Miami at the Festival of Media/LATAM on October 30. 

MIAMI – There are only so many first responders in a particular city or an entire country to deal with natural disasters like Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. This is where groups like Team Rubicon, an organization of military veterans, play a key role.

Brands that partner with Team Rubicon and other volunteer groups via sponsorships, donations or providing “boots on the ground” in disaster areas are “not just selling a product. You’re creating an aura about your brand and helping bring that to light in a very human way,” says Joe Rockhill, VP, Integrated Sales & Marketing, Fox Networks Group.

In this interview with Beet.TV, Rockhill explains how Fox wants to foster greater integrations between brand marketers and relief groups by creating a “groundbreaking docuseries” of original programming highlighting the activities of Team Rubicon. Following the interview with Rockhill, Team Rubicon Operations Section Leader Michael Lloyd provides a ground-level report on the group’s relief efforts to date in Isabella, a municipality in the northwest region of Puerto Rico.

Led by award-winning director Keif Davidson, Fox’s series about Team Rubicon will appear on Fox Broadcasting, FX, Fox Sports and National Geographic and will “live in culturally relevant programming and time periods,” such as The Long Road Home on National Geographic, Veteran’s Day initiatives and takeovers on FX, as well as programming like the Daytona 500, The World Series, Thanksgiving and Christmas on Fox Sports.

“Ultimately, the idea is that it would culminate in a 90-minute documentary that would live on our portfolio and air around Memorial Day of next year,” Rockhill says.

Fox is meeting with brands to see how they can “come on board and help tell the story of the men and women that are part of Team Rubicon, the heroes that are helping to rebuild these communities,” Rockhill says. “We want to understand what the initiatives are that our partners have and then find that alignment with what we’re doing with Team Rubicon so we can integrate them appropriately.”

Team Rubicon’s Lloyd relates how the organization has had a presence in Isabella for more than a month, providing medical care, clearing debris and helping to facilitate the availability of drinking water.

“Our medical teams have seen hundreds of patients,” Lloyd recounts. “In some cases just providing some mental health care as well.

“I think where our passion comes from is we’ve had a good opportunity to get to know the people and really experience what they’re going through on a personal level. The devastation on the island is complete. It’s an austere environment. It’s been one of the most gratifying Team Rubicon experiences that I’ve ever had.”

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here. The series was recorded in Miami at the Festival of Media/LATAM on October 30. 

In the wake of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, for the media industry “It’s going backwards, 25 years ago. You have to take your car and visit your clients, you have to do radio, probably billboards and basics to communicate,” says Andres Claudio, GM of Omnicom’s Hearts & Science agency on the island. “Life is before Maria and after Maria.”

Freddie Hernandez, who runs P&G’s operations in Puerto Rico, is already looking beyond relief to reconstruction—rebuilding infrastructure while convincing companies to invest there for the future. “We will recover from this. We will impact the communities and we will get to a better position,” he says.

Beet.TV interviewed Claudio at this week’s Festival of Media/LATAM conference, where the STAND WITH PUERTO RICO: The Industry Steps Up initiative was launched. His interview is followed by a segment with Hernandez that was produced by P&G  in Puerto Rico where one of the company’s mobile Ace detergent units was operating.

“This is a time that companies have to show their commitment to the island and the community with their brands,” says Claudio. “Besides advertising, this is the perfect moment for companies to get connected to the people with their realities and needs.”

On Puerto Rico, brands don’t have to look very far to identify with causes and be “relevant” to the situation, according to Claudio. “Once the brand understands there is a need in the market, you can relate your brand to that particular need. It gets a connection that people will love and people will acknowledge that you are doing something right for them.”

After thanking the organizers of the Festival of Media/LATAM for hosting and supporting the STAND WITH PUERTO RICO initiative, Hernandez explained that the relief mode is still under way and that sometimes, the basic necessities aren’t so obvious.

“We take things for granted. We never thought that just having your laundry done was so important to people. It’s overwhelming to see how people are reacting to this effort,” says Hernandez.

As relief progresses to recovery, reconstruction will follow, posing more challenges that will require widespread participation and support. “The donations that we’re getting and the support that we’re getting is fantastic but it’s not going to last a lot,” Hernandez explains. “We need companies to look at Puerto Rico once again as a place to invest, as a place to bring their best talent to grow our economy, to leverage the talent that we have on this beautiful island, to help us and together bring this island to the future.”

Claudio is realistic and optimistic looking forward. “It’s not easy but you can do it and make it happen. This is a time that companies have to show the commitment to the island and the community with their brands,” he says.

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here. The series was recorded in Miami at the Festival of Media/LATAM on October 30.

“Brands belong to society and are part of society,” Julian Porras says following the launch of STAND WITH PUERTO RICO, an new initiative to generate awareness and provide support to storm victims.

“The first priority always is to make sure that our people are doing okay and their families are doing okay,” Porras says of the disasters’ aftermath in this interview with Beet.TV. “Our clients and other partners of the community and industry. Luckily no one was harmed, but certainly the impact of those natural disasters have slowed down business.”

In Puerto Rico, six weeks after Hurricane Maria, “it’s just simply been a hardship not only for business but just day to day getting to your routine, getting to your family, getting to your friends. It’s just been tough going.”

Asked what the advertising and media community and its clients should be doing to help storm victims, Porras cites creating awareness and helping to keep the devastating living conditions in Puerto Rico front and center.

“In the news cycle that we live in, news comes and goes very fast and we forget about things. We want to make sure that folks are aware of what’s happening and how the industry can contribute both on the media side, on the agency side and on the client side.”

Launched at this week’s Festival of Media/LATAM conference, STAND WITH PUERTO RICO is joint effort by Omnicom Media Group and Beet.TV, with AT&T AdWorks and Teads as Founding Sponsors. Its goals are:

• Brief the industry on the immediate and long-term needs of the island

• Match media, creative agencies and marketers with NGOs

• Brainstorm creative solutions using technology, social media and traditional media

• Enlist volunteers to accompany relief groups to Puerto Rico

• Build key partnerships to make this effort ongoing

“It’s not something that’s kind of the flavor of the month,” Porras says of brand marketers stepping up to help provide humanitarian aid. “It’s what companies stand for and they simply just go ahead and do it. They do the right thing for the community, for their employees and for the markets and communities where they make business.”

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

Appearing alongside Senator Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Congressman José E. Serrano, D-NY, Congresswoman Valezquez made a passionate appeal to the federal government to “do its job. By every metric it is abundantly and tragically clear that the response to Maria has been ineffective, slow and weak. And the result is that our fellow citizens, American citizens, are suffering and dying.”

Congresswoman Valezquez noted that 44% of Puerto Ricans were living in poverty before the hurricane devastated the island, and that 70% of hospitals are relying on generators “that were not meant for that kind of function. They’re not going to last. And therefore it’s compromising peoples’ lives. This is a terrible situation.”

Added Congresswoman Valezquez: “One life that is lost is too many. By the way, 49 people have died already. More than 100 unaccounted. People suspect the death toll is going to be much higher.

“The whole world is watching what is happening in Puerto Rico. We are Americans. Americans take care of each other.”

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here.   

 In a Call to Action with Founding Sponsors

AT&T AdWorks and Teads 

#SWPR

As some 600 marketing, media and adtech executives gather at the Festival of Media/LATAM conference near Miami on October 30, a program  STAND WITH PUERTO RICO will launch to galvanize industry action to help Puerto Rico.

In this video to be shown to the attendees, U.S. Representative Darren Soto (D-FL) implores the industry to get involved.  To “tell the story” of the needs of Puerto Rico.

About the Program:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, much of Puerto Rico is struggling for basic needs including power, water, food, medical care, housing and education. Needs are immediate and more will be required through a long reconstruction.

The day-long call to action will seek industry help by:

• Driving global awareness to the problems on the island
• Highlighting current and planned initiatives on the island  by the private sector
• Presenting the work being done by nonprofits who are delivering relief

The program will include:

A briefing on the state of Puerto Rico by Congressman Darren Soto (FL-D) via video;  an address by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) via video; presentations by NGO’s who are currently in Puerto Rico including the American Red Cross, the Boys and Girls Club of Puerto Rico; Vieques Love, Team Rubicon, executives from P&G on their efforts in Puerto Rico; executives from San Juan of Omnicom Media Group LATAM agencies OMD, PHd and Hearts & Science; other media and creative agencies along with adtech companies who are supporting Puerto Rico.

The goal of the program is to:

• Brief the industry on the immediate and long-term needs of the island
• Match media, creative agencies and marketers with NGOs
• Brainstorm creative solutions using technology, social media and traditional media
• Enlist volunteers to go  with relief groups to Puerto Rico
• Build key partnerships to make this effort ongoing

Launch Event: Monday, October 30

Festival of Media, Turnberry Isle Resort, Aventura, Florida
10:00 am to 4:00 pm.  Presentations at 11:00 and 3:00 with ongoing conversations.  This will take place in Salon #2. (Changes, updates to follow.)

The event will be co-hosted by Julian Porras, CEO of Omnicom Media Group LATAM; Andres Claudio, GM Hearts & Science Puerto Rico and Andy Plesser, Publisher of Beet.TV

About this Initiative 

Omnicom Media Group is a global media agency holding company with offices around the world, including three  agencies in Puerto Rico.   Andy Plesser is publisher of Beet.TV, a media industry news publication. Andy and his wife own a home in Vieques, Puerto Rico and have been involved with the island’s recovery.  Andy,  Andres and Julian hope that the event will grow into a robust, on-going campaign of lasting value to the people of Puerto Rico.  The launch of this program is sponsored by founding partners  AT&T AdWorks and Teads.

Here is the agenda for Monday’s program.

For information contact:  andy@beet.tv

Please find this list of non-profit organizations supporting Puerto Rico.

Neither Omnicom Media Group or Beet Media LLC are soliciting or collecting contributions.

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here.   

Aid for Puerto Rico will be front and center on Oct. 30 when some 600 marketing, media and adtech executives gather at the Festival of Media/LATAM conference at the Turnberry Isle Resort in Aventura, FL. That morning, a program called STAND WITH PUERTO RICO: The Industry Steps Up will launch to galvanize action for victims of the hurricane.

STAND WITH PUERTO RICO is a joint effort by Omnicom Media Group and Beet.TV, with AT&T AdWorks and Teads as founding sponsors. The day-long call to action will seek industry help by driving global awareness to the problems on the island, highlighting current and planned initiatives by the private sector and presenting the relief work being done by nonprofits.

“We don’t even know, we can only estimate, how many people may be dead,” says Congressman Serrano. “How many pets may be dead or infected with disease once the waters subside.”

The goals of STAND WITH PUERTO RICO (#SWPR) are:

• Brief the industry on the immediate and long-term needs of the island

• Match media, creative agencies and marketers with NGOs

• Brainstorm creative solutions using technology, social media and traditional media

• Enlist volunteers to accompany relief groups to Puerto Rico

• Build key partnerships to make this effort ongoing

Puerto Rico is receiving two kinds of aid: federal assistance and volunteers. “It also needs dollars to be able to do things,” says Congressman Serrano. “To provide food. To provide clean water for drinking. Corporate America can play a major role in that.”

The STAND WITH PUERTO RICO program on Oct. 30 at the Turnberry Isle Resort. It will be co-hosted by Julian Porras, CEO of Omnicom Media Group LATAM; Andres Claudio, GM Hearts & Science Puerto Rico; and Andy Plesser, Publisher of Beet.TV.

The program will include: A video briefing on the state of Puerto Rico by Congressman Darren Sota (FL-D); a video address by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY); presentations by NGO’s that are currently in Puerto Rico, including the American Red Cross, the Boys and Girls Club of Puerto Rico, the Humane Society, executives from San Juan of Omnicom Media Group LATAM agencies OMD, PHd and Hearts & Science; and other media and creative agencies along with adtech companies that are supporting Puerto Rico.

Andy Plesser is the founder and publisher of Beet.TV, a media industry video publication.  He and his wife have a home on Vieques, Puerto Rico and have been involved with the island’s recovery from Hurricane Maria.

Stand With Puerto, The Industry Steps Up 

This video reports on the pressing issues facing Puerto Rico and the organizations that are having an impact. It is part of a media industry initiative titled Stand With Puerto Rico. It is organized by Beet.TV and Omnicom Media Group along with founding partners AT&T AdWorks and Teads. Please find additional videos from the series here.