PRESS RELEASE
DR. MARIO MARAZZI‐SANTIAGO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

February 15, 2018

AUTHORIZED STATEMENTS BY DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PUERTO RICO INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS, ON COMMUNICATION FROM THE FISCAL OVERSIGHT BOARD TO THE GOVERNOR REGARDING THE REORGANIZATION OF THE STATISTICAL FUNCTIONS OF THE PUERTO RICAN GOVERNMENT

We appreciate the statements of the Fiscal Oversight Board regarding the desirability of maintaining the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute as a public instrument, independent and separate from the Government of Puerto Rico.

In addition, the Board made several recommendations, some of which we wish to comment on. In the first instance, he proposed modernizing and updating Puerto Rico's statistical functions and consolidating them into the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute. We share the concern of the Board and the Government that the fragmentation of statistical functions results in costly and ineffective processes. We are under orders from the Government to design a reorganization plan dedicated to statistical functions that achieve this objective. It's never too late to start working together, collaboratively, to achieve shared and desired goals.

Second, the Board joined the expressions of the bipartisan congressional Task Force of Puerto Rico, also created under the federal PROMESA Act, to the effect that the Institute must be allocated a larger budget, aligned with the important responsibilities it exercises. This recommendation represents an extraordinary opportunity for the Government to comply, for the first time, with the budgetary allocation approved for the Institute in its Organic Law.

Third, the Board recommended that the Institute's independence be protected from political intervention. This is an extremely sensitive issue that every Government we have worked with has had to confront, know, understand, process, accept and eventually take advantage of. At the moment, the Institute oversees the statistical work of the Executive Branch. In any other area, oversight functions would not be allowed to be disrupted. For example, one of the baseball teams would never be allowed to choose or change or influence the referee of a game. Why do we think with statistics that we can, should and is it even normal?

We all suffer from the same disinformation after decades of politicized and underfunded deterioration of the statistical functions of the Government of Puerto Rico. Finally, for 10 years we have had a new instrument, the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute, whose main purpose is to pave the way to complete, reliable statistics with fast and universal access. Let's take advantage of it.

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Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes (787) 688-0401

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PRESS RELEASE

They add data on substance use by students to the interactive map on school and community profiles

Based on the Mental Health and Addiction Services Administration (ASSMCA) “Youth Consultation” study

May 23, 2022: The executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, announced that a new layer, on substance use by students living in Puerto Rico, has been added to the interactive map on school and community profiles, known as the “School Community Profile: The Interactive Map”. This new layer consists mainly of data on the prevalence of substance use, risk and protective factors, access to substances, risk perception, and violent behavior, among others. The tool also contains a copy of the official report from which the data were obtained. This particular layer is entitled “Youth Consultation 2018-2020 (ASSMCA)” and must be activated using the “layers” menu.

“These data are based on the Youth Consultation survey conducted during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years and measures the prevalence of substance use among students from seventh to twelfth grade, both in public and private schools in Puerto Rico. In particular, this new layer is divided into ten (10) service areas or regions grouped into: Metro Area, Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas, Fajardo, Guayama, Mayaguez, Moca, Ponce and Utuado,” explained Dr. Disdier.

Some aspects that this new layer allows us to observe are, for example, that, in the area or region of Utuado, 7.8% of students ever used marijuana, 5.3% used unprescribed pills, 51.6% (of those who used cocaine) started using cocaine when they were less than 12 years old, and 36.8% lived in a conflicted family environment, among other statistics. In the same way, by concurrently activating the Public School Directory layer, it can be seen that most schools in that geographical area of Utuado have a three (3) star rating. “This is just one example of many geospatial observations and/or analyses that could be carried out,” emphasized Dr. Disdier.

The School Community Profile: The interactive map, with this new layer, resides on the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics website and interested parties can access it at any time through the following e-mail address: School-community profile.

For technical questions about this tool, you can send an email to: preguntas@estadisticas.pr.

About the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook accounts (@statistics.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR), Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) and LinkedIn (Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics).

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Contacts:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28, 787-603-3200

Lourdes Burgos, R-27, 787-562-2932

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Continuation of Academies for Unemployed People announced