Increasing Resiliency in Puerto Rico

ACTING FOR IMMEDIATE RELIEF WHILE CREATING LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS

📍ISLAND-WIDE

On September 18, 2022, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Fiona. As a response, ConPRmetidos launched a fund aimed to: (1) Give grants to trusted community organizations to address local emergency and long-term needs; (2) Support local farmers by distributing their produce to families experiencing food insecurity; (3) Set up generators and distributed water; (4) Donate home appliances to families who lost their belongings; (5) Provide step-by-step guidance/counseling to local leaders and residents so that they can begin the process of securing FEMA funds.

PROVIDING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

📍SOUTHERN PUERTO RICO

Mente Serena improves mental health access by providing a virtual platform where certified clinical psychologists can serve vulnerable populations. The project aims to help Puerto Rican families recover from ongoing traumas like natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. To maximize impact, doctoral students in clinical psychology are providing counseling services, under the supervision of certified professionals, as part of their doctoral requirements.

REBUILDING HOMES AFTER THE 2020 EARTHQUAKES

📍SOUTHERN PUERTO RICO

The Voluntariado de Ingenieros y Profesionales de Puerto Rico (VIPPR) was created on January 8th, 2020 one day after a 6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico. Structural engineers from the diaspora joined colleagues from the local engineering field to inspect homes free of charge. Since then, VIPPR has developed an effective case management process to inspect damaged homes and buildings. Their program “Route to a Safe Home” facilitates access to emotional support, legal aid and provides detailed reports for structural certifications required by private and federal entities to access reconstruction funds.

MUSIC AND ARTS AS A DISTRACTION AFTER THE EARTHQUAKES

📍PEÑUELAS, PUERTO RICO

Fundación Música Libre launched music workshops with recycled materials in the municipality of Peñuelas. Their program Emprende con Ritmo provided free music workshops to children and young people from disadvantaged communities as a method of cultural education and environmental awareness. Our $7,000 grant provided a space of creativity and distraction to the kids who went through the trauma of the earthquakes.

Alleviating hunger and increasing food security

📍ISLAND-WIDE IMPACT

A food security study published by Puerto Rico’s Institute of Statistics (IEPR) revealed that 32% of the island’s residents who are 18 or older live with low food security. After Hurricane Maria, the Banco de Alimentos Puerto Rico (Food Bank) was unable to accept new food donations due to lack of storage space. The loss of these donations limited the bank’s capacity to serve vulnerable populations. This prompted a move to a new building with more storage capacity. Our $112,000 grant covered the costs of purchasing and installing the windows, doors and storage racks for the new space. The new Puerto Rico Food Bank facility increased their storage capacity by 22% and implemented a new emergency supply distribution programs across Puerto Rico.

ACTIVATING PROTOCOLS FOR FUTURE DISASTER MANAGEMENT

📍mountainous REGION OF pUERTO rICO

The Water Alliance formed by the Bosque Modelo de Puerto Rico (Model Forest), Oxfam, Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico, and Hispanic Federation, provided technical, administrative, organizational and financial support services to communities in charge of the administration of rural community aqueducts “NON-PRASA.” To maximize the Alliance’s ability to communicate with each other and activate protocols, they requested a $7,350 grant for the acquisition of 3 satellite phones and accessories needed for optimal functionality. They also created an emergency plan aimed at mitigating the effects and damages caused during emergency events, establishing a communication system through satellite phones to efficiently coordinate recovery efforts.

establishing A COMMUNITY RESILIENCY HUB

📍CULEBRA, PUERTO RICO

After Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the official emergency shelter on the municipality island of Culebra had no source of power or way to generate clean water. The $15,000 grant covered the expenses of building a concrete room at the Museo de Culebra for the installation of a solar equipment. This provided a source of power for the island municipality’s new Community Resiliency Hub where residents can charge their cell phones and collect clean water in the case of another natural phenomenon.

COLLECTING DATA TO EXPEDITE RELIEF BRIGADES

📍ISLAND-WIDE IMPACT

ConPRmetidos invested in Connect Relief, a project led by a local nonprofit to connect those affected by the hurricanes with relief efforts. Through a virtual platform, Connect Relief provides up-to-date, accurate information on the specific needs of communities, shelters, nonprofit organizations and homes for the elderly, to those who are bringing and distributing aid. The $25,000 grant provided resources towards the enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of the platform, helping improve Connect Relief's data analysis and volunteer coordination efforts. As a result, they trained over 500 volunteers who gathered data necessary for relief and recovery efforts to over 277 communities, 90 shelters, and 49 senior homes in 70 municipalities.

SAFE WATER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC

📍UTUADO, PUERTO RICO

PosiGen, a successful green energy startup in New Orleans that provides working-class families with access to affordable solar energy, donated $50,000 worth of solar-powered, water-filtering equipment to a community in need in Puerto Rico. PosiGen asked ConPRmetidos to identify the community and to pay for the shipping, from New Orleans, plus the professional installation of the equipment once it arrived on the island. We provided a $4,000 grant to ship solar powered water-filtering equipment to Puerto Rico. The PosiGen water filtration system enabled our grantee COSSAO to supply clean water to their community health clinic without increasing their energy or operational costs to do so.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND ESSENTIAL NUTRITION

📍TOA BAJA, PUERTO RICO

The Asociación de Comunidades Unidas Tomando Acción Solidaria (ACUTAS) gives residents from communities in Toa Baja the tools they need to be self-sufficient and have a better quality of life. Their initiatives range from after-school programs for children to continued education for adults and meal distribution to those without the means to purchase healthy food. Growing socio-economic challenges have increased their demand for services, and our grant helps subsidize some of their programs’ operating costs.

HARVESTING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR VIEQUES’ BIOLUMINESCENT BAY

📍VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO

Vieques’ main tourist attraction is Mosquito Bay, one of only five bioluminescent bays in the world. The Bay promotes economic activity through tourism and stimulates small businesses that cater to these visitors. The island municipality was severely affected by the 2017 hurricanes and by the COVID-19 Pandemic. With ConPRmetidos’ funding, the Vieques Conservation & Historical Trust (VCHT) has restored infrastructures near the Bay, including an abandoned school that will be used as a new mangrove nursery.

STRENGTHENING MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS AND INCREASING RESILIENCY

📍 ISLAND-WIDE IMPACT

Causa Local is a nonprofit seeking to expand access to capital for small businesses. Since 2018, they have partnered with Kiva, a crowdfunding platform that connects lenders and startups worldwide. Causa Local has impacted 150+ companies in Puerto Rico with loans of up to $15K at a 0% interest rate. In addition to supporting Causa Local’s operations, our grant allowed the installation of a sustainable trailer that will serve as a resilient hub to businesses in the southern area.

AIDING OUR COMMUNITIES DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC

📍ISLAND-WIDE

For ConPRmetidos, it is very important to keep communities protected from all types of harm. Whether it is hurricanes, earthquakes, or a pandemic, we want to make sure people are safe. ConPRmetidos distributed 700 kn95 masks to communities served by our grantees: Conservación ConCiencia, ACUTAS, Bosque Modelo, Causa Local, and Plenitud PR.

Nonprofit Until We Do It reached out to ConPRmetidos with an interest in distributing free masks to vulnerable communities on the island. This organization has mobilized to care for populations across the United States that have been underserved during the crisis. The reusable masks were delivered to Taller Salud in Loiza and the families that are members of the eleven (11) Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico.

PARTNERING WITH AMAZON FOR EARTHQUAKE RELIEF

📍SOUTHERN PUERTO RICO

A day after a 6.4 earthquake struck the south of Puerto Rico, ConPRmetidos’ team conducted a preliminary assessment of emergency needs in Guayanilla to better identify what resources were needed for those severely affected by the earthquake. A few days later we headed back and thanks to the generosity of our donors we were able to provide immediate relief supplies to families sleeping outside of their homes and to residents of communities where emergency aid had not been yet delivered.

 The Amazon Disaster Relief and Response initiative donated and shipped relief items like fleece blankets, bed sheets, pillows, sanitary wipes, adult diapers, baby formula, baby milk, tents, solar lanterns, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cots, and whistles. These contributions were distributed to those in need.

We also established other projects and Collaborative Impact Grants related to the long-term rebuilding of the south.

Aiding an elderly community after a hurricane threat

📍loiza, Puerto rICO

The threat of Hurricane Dorian impacting Puerto Rico on August 2019 after a post-Maria crisis, put many communities with vulnerable populations into a panic. One of the biggest problems after Maria was that many bedridden individuals had ulcers that got infected due to limited access to sanitary and medical supplies.

To help these communities, ConPRmetidos gave a $7,541 grant to Taller Salud allowing the distribution of 200 packages of medical and hygiene supplies for bedridden residents and their caregivers in collaboration with the leadership of several communities in the town of Loíza.

PORTABLE ENERGY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

📍SAN JUAN, ISABELA, ARROYO, AGUADILLA, AGUAS BUENAS, RIO GRANDE, OROCOVIS & JAYUYA

The effects of hurricane Irma and María were particularly acute for small-sized businesses, which are a crucial engine of Puerto Rico's economy. The collapse of the power grid forced many entrepreneurs to close shop, leaving workers across the island without reliable income during a time of great need for food, healthcare, transportation, and security. The $71,044 grant allowed local businesses to resume operations, retain or regain the employment of dozens of people and enabled the recovery of commercial activity essential for the economic stability of surrounding communities.

SATELLITE PHONES FOR KEY LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

📍ISLAND-WIDE IMPACT

We gave a $9,874 grant to purchase communications equipment used to coordinate and expedite emergency aid immediately after Hurricane Maria. Thanks to the satellite phones, key nonprofit organizations were able to procure and coordinate the delivery of emergency aid to people in vulnerable communities during the four months following Maria. The organizations that benefited from these satellite phones included: Fundación de Culebra, Connect Relief, Bosque Modelo, and Centro de Apoyo Mutuo. The satellite phones also helped families communicate and reunite after the storm during a critical time when less than 5% of the cellular antennas in Puerto Rico were operational.

PROVIDING CLEAN WATER AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

📍BAYAMÓN & Las MARÍAS, PUERTO RICO

On Hurricane Maria’s immediate aftermath, access to clean water was a significant and life-threatening challenge for millions of island residents. To help address this, we purchased and imported an OffGridBox : a patented water filtration and rainwater harvesting system that can filter, sterilize and pressurize 1,580 gallons of water per day while also producing up to 16kWh of power per day. This amount is enough to help meet water and critical energy needs for up to 1,500 people.

The OffGridBox was installed in the Bayamón chapter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico, a community center that provided emergency relief services immediately after the storms. In early 2021, the system was relocated to the municipality of Las Marías for the use of non-profit organization Plenitud PR.

FACILITATING FOOD DISTRIBUTION

📍TOA BAJA, PUERTO RICO

ConPRmetidos covered the costs for Fundación El Plato Caliente to rent a van that was used to distribute and deliver meals to residents of the "Sector El 26" and "Villa Calma" neighborhoods in the municipality of Toa Baja.

Our $2,816 donation allowed over 80,000 meals to be distributed in these hurricane affected communities.