Dr. Carmen Febo San Miguel announced her planned retirement from the role of Taller Puertorriqueño executive director this past March.

The former executive director had announced plans to step down on Nov. 1 of this year. Puerto Rican fashion designer Nasheli Juliana Ortiz-Gonzalez has been confirmed to succeed her, and will take the post on Dec. 27, 2021.

Febo was active in the role for 22 years, and had worked with Taller Puertorriqueño for 36 years in total. 

Now, to honor the retired executive director, The Philadelphia Foundation has opened new calls to donate to The Carmen Febo San Miguel Fund alongside the organization she led for more than two decades.

The fund was created a couple decades ago at the Philadelphia Foundation to help boost the work done at Taller. There is approximately $80,000 in the fund, which the organization collects the interest on every year. The hope is for it to grow to a level where more transformational change can be made on an annual basis.

A video message was released from Febo who updates her retirement date for this December. She also lays out means to support Taller Puertorriqueño going forward.

The Philadelphia Foundation wrote some words on the matter:

“Carmen Febo San Miguel represents steady, strong, consistent leadership over time and in that spirit, giving to the fund is the perfect way to honor that legacy.”

Taller Puertorriqueño was originally founded in 1974. Febo joined 11 years following its formation.

Joining the Taller Puertorriqueño just over a decade after, Febo has been credited for greatly influencing the expansion of the organization to its current state. Under her watch, the organization grew from a community nonprofit in North Philadelphia to one of the largest Latinx arts and culture organizations on the East Coast.

With a growing endowment, that impact could spread even further.