Ramon Borges-Mendez
Associate Professor, Sustainability and Social Justice
-
Ramón Borges-Méndez, PhD, born in Puerto Rico, has worked in the US, Latin America, and South Asia. He is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Community Development at the International Development, Community, and Environment Department at Clark University (Worcester, MA), where he is coordinator of the undergraduate Urban Studies concentration, and he teaches graduate courses on food systems, inequality, labor economics, migration, and globalization. Prof. Borges-Méndez has been also coordinator of the Graduate Program in Community Development and Planning. Previously, Prof. Borges-Méndez held academic appointments at University of Chile, Johns Hopkins University-SAIS, American University, and UMASS-Boston. He holds a BA from the Social Though and Political Economy Program from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an MCP (Master in City Planning) and a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prof. Borges-Méndez is co-founder of Fundación Bucarabón in Maricao, PR (https://en.fundacionbucarabon.org/), where he serves in the Board, and he is the Director of Development. In Worcester, he currently Co-Chairs of the board of Worcester Common Ground Community Development Corporation (https://www.wcgcdc.org/). Prof. Borges-Méndez has a broad career as a consultant working for organizations such as the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, The Economic Commission on Latin American and the Caribbean of the United Nations (ECLAC), The United Nations’ Department for Social and Economic Affairs, the Inter-American Development Bank, The Brookings Institution, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, the Government of Chile, and SEIU-1199 Health Care Workers, NYC. Dr. Borges-Méndez has written on various public policy issues: workforce development; labor markets; poverty and community development in the United States; immigration; sustainability and governance in Latin America. His work has been published in the Economic Development Quarterly, The Non-Profit Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, and CENTRO-Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ramon-Borges-Mendez). He has occupied leadership positions in other organizations and non-profits such as the Massachusetts Endowment for the Humanities, Farm-to-Institution New England, the Mauricio Gaston Institute/UMASS-Boston, and ARNOVA. Prof. Borges-Méndez also received diverse fellowships, awards, and grants from: Fulbright; USDA; Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation; and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Degrees
- Ph.D. in Urban Studies and Regional Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995
- M.A. in City Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988
- B.A. in Social Thought and Political Economy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1985
Affiliated Department(s)
- Sustainability and Social Justice
- International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)
-
Scholarly and Creative Works
Scroll to top.-
Peters, C. J. (Research Lead); Barley, L; Borges-Méndez, R.; Donohue, B.; McCarthy A.C.; Schumann, S.; Stoll, J.; von Wettberg, E. (2023). Estimating Production for 30%Regional Self-Reliance. Volume 2. (55 pp.) New England Feeding New England Project. (Project Editors. Scott Sawyer and Ellen Kahler.) Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. Montpelier, VT.
New England Feeding New England
2023-03-31
●
2023
●
Vol. 2
Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
-
Fowler, H. (Research Lead); Barley, L.; Borges-Méndez, R.; Klieger, M.; Leighton, H.; Richardson, S. (2023). Understanding Market Demand. Volume 4. (87 pp.) New England Feeding New England Project. (Project Editors. Scott Sawyer and Ellen Kahler.) Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. Montpelier, VT.
USA
2023-04-30
●
2023
●
Vol. 4
Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
●
Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
-
Marrero A.; Lopez-Cepero A.; Borges-Mendez, R.; Mattei, J. (2021). Narrating agricultural resilience after Hurricane María: How smallholder farmers in Puerto Rico leverage self-sufficiency and collaborative agency in a climate-vulnerable food system. Agricultural & Human Values. Sept, 2021.
Published in Agricultural & Human Values
●
2021
-
Borges-Méndez, Ramón. (2020). Community Development Corporations and Reconstruction Policy in Puerto Rico. CENTRO Journal. Volume XXXIII. Number 111. Fall 2020. pp.157-198.
Published in CENTRO Journal.
●
2020
●
Vol. Volume XXXIII. Number 111. Fall 2020. pp.157-198.
-
-
Awards & Grants
-
Research-practice collaboration - How do local conditions of ecosystems drive entrepreneurial outcomes?
Kauffman Foundation
Feb. 1, 2021 - Sep. 1, 2022
-
New England Feeding New England (NEFNE)
The funding for the project has been provided John Merck Fund, the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service.
Sep. 1, 2021 - Jul. 31, 2022
-
Seeding Food Resilience though Anchor Institutions
USDA-NIFA-AFRI
Jan. 1, 2021 - Dec. 31, 2021
-
Urbanization and Sprawl in Second-Tier Cities of Sri Lanka: The Cases of Galle and Matara.
Fulbright Scholar Program
Feb. 1, 2021 - Jul. 1, 2021
-
Capacity Building Grant. (Through Fundación Bucarabón, Maricao, PR.). National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB). San Antonio, Texas.
National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders
Jan. 1, 2021 - May. 31, 2021
-
Between Hurricanes and Earthquakes: Reconstruction, Resilience, and Sustainability in Post-Disaster Puerto Rico.
Clark University Research Board & ORSP
Jul. 1, 2020 - May. 31, 2021
-
Rural Housing and Labor Markets in Puerto Rico (Through Fundacion Bucarabon)
JPMorgan Chase Foundation and NALCAB – the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders
Feb. 1, 2022
-
Urbanization and Sprawl in Second-Tier Cities of Sri Lanka: The Cases of Galle and Matara. Fulbright Scholar Program
Fulbright Commission
2020
-
President's Award for Inclusive Excellence
Clark University
2023
-