ResilientSEE-PR Holiday Message
An early sunrise in rural Puerto Rico, with the festive air of the season and the bright reminder of a new day. Watercolor by Yanel de Angel.
This has been a year like no other. On top of the January earthquake devastation, the lingering effects of hurricanes Irma and María, Puerto Rico also faced the disruptions of COVID-19. Despite all these events, the community continues to rise. We wish for a brighter, healthier and more peaceful and resilient 2021!
Summary of 2020
Education
On February of this year, many resilientSEE-PR volunteers underwent SAP Training – a Post-Disaster Safety Assessment Program to receive certification from Cal OES (Governor’s Office of Emergency Services). We were hoping to travel to the southern part of the Island to begin inspecting homes and other buildings, place placards and provide technical support to people. During the COVID-19 pandemic we pivoted to online trainings and discovered that while it does not replace face-to-face interactions, it is an effective way to meet people where they are. Here a summary of the educational activities this year:
In April, resilientSEE-PR had the opportunity to present the guide ‘Community Together: Resilient Community Center Design for Island Communities,’ which was a collaborative effort between resilientSEE-PR and Enterprise Community Partners, ReImagina Puerto Rico, Mercy Corps and DesignED 4 Resilience. The presentation, hosted by Enterprise Community Partners, was part of an international webinar titled ‘Why is Puerto Rico Shaking? How to Keep Homes and Communities Safe from Earthquakes’ that drew more than 1,200 participants. resilientSEE-PR thanks its collaborators who presented in this webinar: Malu Blázquez, Executive Director for ReImagina Puerto Rico; Karla Peña, Director of Mercy Corps Puerto Rico; Laurie Schoeman, National Director, Resilience and Disaster Recovery Enterprise Community Partners; and Yanel de Angel, Principal at Perkins&Will, co-founder resilientSEE-PR.
During August and September, resilientSEE alliance members presented in a series of training webinars hosted by Enterprise Community Partners. The webinars focused on supplementing ‘Keep Safe: A Guide for Resilient Housing Design in Island Communities.’ Hosted in English and Spanish, the webinars were aimed at a wide audience of professionals, community, and NGO leaders. Special thanks go to the amazing Laurie Schoeman, National Director, Resilience and Disaster Recovery Enterprise Community Partners, who leads by example motivating, educating, and empowering many! Also, thanks to the resilientSEE alliance members who volunteered their knowledge and expertise to present important information in this series: María Roldán, Ricardo Álvarez-Díaz, Pedro Sifre, Danniely Staback-Rodríguez, and Yanel de Angel.
In June, resilientSEE-PR partnered with Voluntariado de Ingenieros y Profesionales de Puerto Rico to provide two trainings:
A professional training webinar for the Puerto Rico Builders Association (Asociación de Constructores de Puerto Rico) titled “Best Practices for Home Reconstruction in Time of Pandemics and Natural Disasters” (“Mejores Prácticas para la Reconstrucción de Hogares en Tiempo de Pandemias y Desastres Naturales”). We are proud of our partnership with the Voluntariado and thankful to Jesabel Rivera, Executive Director, and Eddie Guerra, engineer with Arup – both co-founders of the Voluntariado. Thanks also to presenters Laurie Schoeman, National Director, Resilience and Disaster Recovery Enterprise Community Partners, Danniely Staback-Rodríguez and Yanel de Angel from resilientSEE-PR.
A homeowners educational dialogue titled “How to Keep Your Home Safe: Best Practices for Earthquakes” (“Como Mantener su Hogar Seguro: Mejores Prácticas para Terremotos”). The presenters were Jesabel Rivera, Executive Director, and Eddie Guerra, engineer with Arup – both co-founders of the Voluntariado; and Danniely Staback-Rodríguez and Yanel de Angel from resilientSEE-PR.
In December, Yanel de Angel, Principal at Perkins&Will, co-founder resilientSEE-PR, moderated ‘P3’s Role in Resilient Reconstruction Post-Disasters Panel Discussion’ at the P3 Government National Conference. Panelist included Fernando Gil-Enseñat, former Secretary of Housing, currently Director at Alvarez & Marsal; Laurie Schoeman, National Director, Resilience and Disaster Recovery Enterprise Community Partners; and Ricardo Álvarez-Díaz, architect / developer, founding Partner & CEO of Álvarez‐Díaz & Villalon® Architecture & Interior Design, co-founder resilientSEE-PR. We discussed the current estate of funding, the strategy behind the housing reconstruction process, how to use this opportunity to build with resilience and what are P3 investment opportunities.
Spreading the Word
In addition to the training webinars, we have continued to spread the word about the importance of disaster relief planning and design.
resilientSEE-PR participated in Pivot-ES podcast: Thanks Mariely Rivera, founder of The ChangeMaker Foundation for the interview at Pivot-ES podcast (in Spanish) on 'Urbanism and Inclusion,' a fundamental component of our ResilientSEE PR mission!
Recording day!
Digital Exhibition at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture:
The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture has announced a historic collaboration with Google Arts & Culture to digitize the museum’s current and future collections, including an exhibit resilientSEE-PR is honored to be a part of: Rebuilding with Resilience.
The exhibit highlights the exemplary community engagement stories of three organizations in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria: Resilient Power Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Agenda, and resilientSEE-PR.
Awards
This year we received two important recognitions bestowed by national professional organizations in the design and construction industry. We are proud and honored that our collaborative work is been noticed.
Resilient Planning at Multiple Scales Autonomous Municipality of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico received 2 major awards! Thank you to our partners: Perkins&Will, NASA Develop (Hampton, VA), MIT Urban Risk Lab (Cambridge, MA), Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón Architecture and Interiors (Puerto Rico), WSP (Boston, MA), Moffatt & Nichol (Florida), SGH (Waltham, MA), and last but not least – the leadership at the Autonomous Municipality of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.
Award # 1 - Design Excellence Honor Award, Vision Category, National Organization of Minority Architects
Award #2 - Honorable Mention, ACADIA+Autodesk+NOMA COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN AWARD
Projects
The resilientSEE-PR alliance thrives in coordinated collaborative efforts to leverage expertise. With Voluntariado de Ingenieros y Profesionales de Puerto Rico, we have undertaken the following projects:
Ponce Community Center: A collaboration between resilientSEE-PR and Voluntariado de Ingenieros to assist One Stop Center in developing a programmatic and conceptual design and cost estimation to transform a historic registry existing building into a community center. The scope included gathering technical information and design conceptualization needed to secure $8.5M FEMA Mitigation grant for Community Safe Room. A local architect was assisted throughout the process and will ultimately execute the project. One Stop Center is following COR3’s process to finalize the grant.
Arenas Community Center: A collaboration between resilientSEE-PR and Voluntariado de Ingenieros and Profesionales de Puerto Rico to help transform a decommissioned public school into a Community Center for the Arenas community. The scope of services includes existing conditions assessment, programming, and spatial concepts/strategies. This project is ongoing.
Guánica Municipality Emergency Preparedness Plan and Shelters: A collaboration between resilientSEE-PR, Voluntariado de Ingenieros and Profesionales de Puerto Rico, and the Boston Architectural College to enhance the Municipal Emergency Plan and create three community centers that transform into community shelters during emergency events. The conceptual phase has been completed and in 2021 grants and funding need to be secured with community organizations and the Municipality leadership.