Centro de Investigación y Política Pública (CIPP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in San Juan, Puerto Rico that advocates for transparent and responsive government through public policy analysis and increased community engagement. ¹ CIPP operates as ABRE Puerto Rico. ²

Centro de Investigación y Política Pública is a former affiliate member of the State Policy Network, a coalition of free-market state-level policy organizations. ³

Activities

ABRE Puerto Rico was founded in 2013 to educate citizens about public policy issues through its collection and analysis of government data in Puerto Rico. ABRE provides tools to citizens, organizations, and government agencies. ⁴

ABRE Puerto Rico’s current projects include identifying the organizational needs of school principals in PR, citing that principals are a critical driver in school performance; ABRE Tu Escuela (Open Your School), which collects data from surveys in an effort to identify the underlying reasons for discrepancies in performance among schools with comparable enrollments and poverty levels; and ABRE Tu Municipio (Open Your Municipality), which evaluates the finances of all the municipalities in Puerto Rico, in an effort to provide transparency. ⁵

Funding

Centro de Investigación y Política Pública is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and businesses. CIPP discloses several of its donors, and tax filings confirm donations from the Peter Alfond Foundation ($54,800 in 2020), ⁶ the Sunlight Foundation ($10,000 in 2014), ⁷ and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation ($2,500 in 2022). ⁸

People

Arnaldo Cruz is president and co-founder of ABRE Puerto Rico and the president of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute. Cruz formerly worked as the director of research and analysis at the Foundation for Puerto Rico, as a senior advisor to the President of the Senate of Puerto Rico, and as director of the Government and Economic Development Commission of the Senate of Puerto Rico. ⁹

Alvin Quinones is a co-founder of CIPP and a co-founder and COO of Claris Data. Quinones formerly worked as director of professional services for Health Access Solutions and as a communications and information officer for the United States Air Force. ¹⁰

Elizabeth Perez Chiques is a co-founder of ABRE Puerto Rico, a research professor in the Public Administration Division of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico, and a member of the Rockefeller Institute of Government. ¹¹

Board of Directors

Mónica Sanabria Mercado is the director of the Graduate School of Education at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. Mercado formerly worked as director of schools in the Puerto Rico Department of Education. ¹²

Juan Carlos Agostos Martínez sits on the boards of Econo Supermarkets and the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce. Martínez formerly worked for the Senate of Puerto Rico, the Chief Education Office of the Chicago Public Schools, and the H. Calero Consulting Group. ¹³

Juan Guillermo Herrans-Barreras is an investment advisor with Merrill Lynch and a member of the audit committee of the Sor Isolina Ferré Centers. ¹⁴

Farasch López Reyloz is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Investigations and Data Unit of GFR Media, which includes the newspapers El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora. ¹⁵

Veronique Descombes is the president and owner of Active Media Group Inc. and the vice president of Hogares Rafaela Ybarra. Descombes is a former president of the Sales and& Marketing Association of Puerto Rico, the Mexican Business Society in Puerto Rico, and the Women Leadership Council of Fondos Unidos. ¹⁶

Kevin Gonzalez-Toro works for the consulting firm Estudios Tecnicos, Inc. and formerly worked as a consultant to the budget division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ¹⁷

1. “About.” Centro de Investigacion y Politica Publica. Archived from the original May 12, 2014. Accessed November 7, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20140512011415/http://www.cipp-pr.org/about/.
2. “About ABRE Puerto Rico.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/sobre-abre-puerto-rico.
3. “The Directory: Puerto Rico.” State Policy Network. Archived from the original November 26, 2012. Accessed November 7, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20161126065432/https://spn.org/directory/#PR.
4. “About ABRE Puerto Rico.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/sobre-abre-puerto-rico.
5. “Our Projects.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/proyectos.
6. Peter Alfond Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2020, Part XV, Line 3.
7. Sunlight Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2014, Schedule I, Part II.
8. Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2022, Schedule I, Part II.
9. “Arnaldo Cruz.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/arnaldo-cruz.
10. “Alvin Quinones.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/alvin-quinones.
11. “Elizabeth Perez Chiqués.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/elizabeth-perez.
12. “Monico Sanabria Mercado, EdD.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/monico-sanabria.
13. “Juan Carlos Agostos Martínez.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/juan-carlos-agostos-martinez.
14. “Juan Guillermo Herrans-Barreras.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/juan-guillermo-herrans-barreras.
15. “Farasch López Reyloz.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/farasch-lopez-cruz.
16. “Veronique Descombes.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/veronique-descombes.
17. “Kevin González-Toro.” ABRE Puerto Rico. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.abrepr.org/es/kevin-gonzalez-toro.