Time, as a place, goes nowhere; but as a chronological measurement of phenomena, it is moving extremely fast these days. However, as a measurement of events, it moves very fast. This is especially true for the National Puerto Rican Diaspora Museum, which has a limited amount of time to launch at full capacity. There is an urgency to act as our community members are getting older, spreading out across the globe, or leaving it altogether. 

To achieve our goals, we need to promote our efforts via the many cybernetic media available to us and launch a campaign to raise the necessary funds to make this a big reality. Luckily, there are many platforms – including the use of Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) — available that make fundraising and audience building more accessible than ever before.

Francisco Lugoviña
Board Member

Francisco Lugoviña (better known as “Paco”) was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico and moved to New York City at the age of 7, joining his father who had left the island in search of progress for his family and who he had not seen in three years. 

Paco has been active in community and political affairs in New York City for most of his adult life, building along the way an admirable history as a community organizer and civil rights activist spanning his college and professional careers. He was a member of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) specifically with the Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality (SEDFRE). He led groups of protestors from the Bronx, NY in protest marches to Washington, DC, Selma and Montgomery Alabama, the streets of New York, Chicago and other stops of the Civil Rights Movement led by Rev. Martin Luther King. 

Paco has launched several successful businesses since 1968.  As Chief Operating Officer of LRF Developers, Inc., he combined entrepreneurship with solid managerial ability to successfully develop 161 housing units with a total construction cost of $9 million; plus syndicated a $39 million Battery Park City Residential tower. Paco served as Chairman of the State of the New York Mortgage Agency; and was Bank Regulator on the New York State Banking Board for nine years.

He served on the Executive Committee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund Board for 15 years; was on the Business Development Committee of the National Hispanic Business Group; and was Chairman of the National Hispanic Housing Coalition. He served on the Housing Development Committee of the Greyston Foundation Board as well as on the Pathfinder Program Committee, the spiritual arm of the Foundation. He is Chairperson Emeritus of the Family Life Academy Charter Schools in the Bronx, NY (founded by Puerto Ricans); and was the Chairperson of United Bronx Parents-La Casita Board, also in the Bronx.

He is an ordained Buddhist priest and Roshi in the Soto Zen lineage and in the Zen Peacemaker Order; is a member of the Zen Peacemaker Circles and Peacemaker International; and is the founder of the Hudson River Peacemaker Center-House of One People in Yonkers, New York. He has participated in pilgrimages to Tibet, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Springfield, MA, Detroit, MI, and in the streets of New York City. Paco has been highly effective in raising capital funds and in other fundraising endeavors for political campaigns, arts institutions, religious and secular organizations and for special causes.

Paco received New York City’s highest Mayoral award for arts contribution and fundraising efforts for the arts; conferred in recognition of his work in saving and growing the Bronx Museum of the Arts where he served for 20 years. He also received an award from the Jewish Community Relations Council in recognition for his work as social justice activist. He continues to support Respect and Justice for Puerto Rico, especially in their efforts to remove the maritime restrictions on shipping to and from Puerto Rico that unfairly tax the economy of that island country.