The Falu Foundation


About Us


OUR MISSION

To provide opportunities for development of low- income communities, by mobilizing, with care and respect, the learning and productive power of individuals, including children, using technology and cultural heritage.


OUR VISION:

The Falú Foundation mobilizes resources to provide bilingual and other needy communities with effective opportunities for development and career oriented/ employment learning.

 


 

Our work is implemented in collaboration with churches, the Community Board, schools, legislators, businesses, banks-financial institutions, and other voluntary and neighborhood organizations.


Mobilizing the Productive and Learning Power of Low-Income Communities



Falu Foundation History


The Foundation, Dr. Georgina Falu Inc. is a community based 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation operating to service low income and other needy communities. Since 1988 the mission has been focused on four different areas:


1.Technology & Digital Divide

2.Economic Development& Jobs

3.Children and Technology

4.Heritage Research.

The foundation was originally born out of the need to provide free technology computer training, to increase the opportunities for career and job development of low income, bilingual unemployed adults, mostly women. Training mothers presented the need of providing day care service, to support these parents while they studied. Father Lott, a pastor at the St. Francis de Sales Church in El Barrio, provided the foundation with classroom space in their building to care for children whose parents were in classes.

The foundation, as a community organization, has been serving this community since 1989. Its application for not for profit corporation status was approved by New York State in August 25, 1992, its 501(c)(3) tax exempt status approved by the IRS in September 8, 1993, and Private Charity status approved by the NYS Dept. of State on December 1, 1995.

Since then, The Falú Foundation has initiated Silicon Barrio, a comprehensive Technology Telecommunication Initiative with the main objective of preparing community members for jobs using computer applications and other Information Technology. The main thrust has been to make new computer technology jobs, services, training and economic development opportunities available to the unemployed in this disadvantaged and underserved Community.


The foundation created upper Manhattan’s first and only Internet Center, still serving this community on an ongoing basis, from morning to evening. The community’s great demands for the foundations free educational, training and services continue to increase.


 

Dr. Georgina Falu, CEO

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Dr. Georgina Falu is the founder and President of the Falu Foundation, an Upper Manhattan’s Latino technology center servig low income children and families, and doing research in African Heritage and History. She is a leader in the movement towards technology education and economic development in New York’s Latino and minority communities. she also founded the Universal Business and Media School,the first computer school owned and operated by a minority woman.


In 1988, Dr. Falú initiated the Upper Manhattan community’s first Internet Center, SILICON BARRIO, a comprehensive Technology Telecommunication Initiative with the main objective of preparing community members for jobs using computer applications and other Information Technology. Dr. Falú gives Computer and Internet seminars to professionals, seniors, children, and families throughout the New York area.


Dr. Falú is a Black and Puerto Rican scholar and educator with over 35 years of teaching experience in colleges and universities in Puerto Rico and the Continental United States. She completed a Doctorate in Higher Education Finances and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University, a Diploma from the Harvard Graduate School of Business, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelors degree in accounting from the University of Puerto Rico.


Dr. Falú was the first woman Dean of the Business School at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, and the first woman Vice President of Administration for Union Theological School at Columbia University. She also served as the Dean of Academic Support Programs at Touro College and has taught at the University of Puerto Rico, Baruch College and City collegen at City University of New York, Touro College of New York and State University of New York. In 1974, Dr. Falú was named Puerto Rico's Woman of the Year in Education.


In 1988, Dr. Falú sold her home in Puerto Rico and used the money to found her own school in the heart of El Barrio, the Universal Business and Media School. To her credit, Dr. Falú is the first Puerto Rican woman to own a registered and accredited business school in the mainland United States. Universal primarily served disadvantaged, Puerto Rican/Latino and African American students.