Community Engagement

Ciencia CoLab | Aquí Nos Cuidamos

CienciaCoLab

I lead Laboratorio de Ciencia Comunitaria (Science Community Lab, CienciaCoLab), a collaborative, participatory program supporting community leaders in Puerto Rico carry out local science projects by offering mentoring, tools, workshops, and funding. During its pilot in 2022-2023, CienciaCoLab helped six community leaders integrate science into community efforts, write proposals and secure $10,000 each for their community science projects.

Set of cards used by participants of CienciaCoLab
Mónica with a group of community leaders and members of her team in CienciaCoLab

Aquí Nos Cuidamos

I am director and founder of Aquí Nos Cuidamos (which translates to "Here, We Take Care of Each Other"), an award-winning community-centered project to promote prevention, well-being and mental health amongst marginalized communities in Puerto Rico through culturally relevant multimedia education and public engagement. Since 2020, it has launched five national public service campaigns, collaborated with 10 community ambassadors to support their local public health efforts, and trained more than 250 health promoters and professionals, among others, on how to use its multimedia campaigns. The project has reached more than 300,000 people and been internationally recognized as a model for public engagement, design, and inclusive science communication. 

Poster from Aquí Nos Cuidamos' campaign "Distancia física, no social" (Physical, not social distancing)
Poster from Aquí Nos Cuidamos' campaign "Vacúnate por ti y por mí" (Get vaccinated, for you and me)
Poster from Aquí Nos Cuidamos' campaign "Salud mental es plenitud" (mental health is plenitude)
Material from Aquí Nos Cuidamos' campaign "La prevención es la clave" (Prevention is key)

Aquí Nos Cuidamos was named the 2021 Breakthrough of the Year in Science Engagement at Falling Walls, in Berlin, Germany and selected for the 2022 Ibero-American Design Biennial in Madrid, Spain.