COLECTIVO ILE CORPORACION

Through education, community organizing, and research, Colectivo Ilé strengthened antiracist and decolonizing work to generate social change with the communities they support, academic spaces, and others. They supported the spiritual/psychological social strengthening of people racialized as inferior, created awareness about the cultural contributions and knowledge of Afro-descendant people, and generated socioeconomic and political changes within and outside Puerto Rico through consciousness-raising workshops, community accompaniment to understand racist/colonial oppression systems, and tools for dismantling them. Key accomplishments include creating an Antiracist Manual for Trainers to guide communities in conducting workshops, conducting research that resulted in "Knowledge is Power: Proposal for the inclusion of ethnic-racial variables in Puerto Rico forms" (developed with various organizations to improve data collection for effective public policy), and producing the report "Perceptions, knowledge and practices about abortion: An Afro-Caribbean perspective" (2023) focused on Black and Afro-descendant women in collaboration with the Network of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women. They developed an Afro-healing component to provide spiritual and ancestral strength for their demanding antiracist work, maintained special care for Afro-descendant youth through their Afrojuventudes and Afrojuntes programs that accompany young people in assuming antiracist and decolonial leadership, and celebrated the fifth anniversary of their radio program NEGRAS, broadcast through the University of Puerto Rico Radio Network, which showcases the contributions of hundreds of Black and Afro-descendant women while connecting with antiracist struggles throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to break colonial isolation.