Fall 2019 Newsletter
Above: Villa Pesquera, photographed on a recent visit to the community.
Rebuilding with Resilience:
Puerto Rico Community Engagement Stories
The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago is hosting “Rebuilding with Resilience: Puerto Rico Community Engagement Stories,” which showcases a collection of stories about community resilience and heroism in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The exhibition includes community work displayed in various media by three organizations: ResilientSEE-PR, The Puerto Rican Agenda, and Resilient Power Puerto Rico. The exhibition opens November 1st, 2019.
Launch Event: Keep Safe and Communities Together Guides
On October 8th, 2019, we launched two important Guides!
Keep Safe
Free to the public and led by Enterprise Community Partners, “Keep Safe: A Guide for Resilient Housing Design in Island Communities” is a resource to enable people to rebuild stronger so that, when tens of billions of dollars of Federal aid arrives, the money can be used to protect residents from future climate shocks and stressors. The guide provides practical and affordable ideas for rebuilding homes.
Communities Together
Free to the public, “Communities Together: A Guide for Resilient Community Center Design in Island Communities” is a resource to help communities design resilient community centers, strengthen organizational capacity, promote year-round education, and be able to face climate, social, and economic changes. It offers practical suggestions, including developing community organization, operational capacity and relevant physical assets to achieve resilience. The Guide is a collaborative effort between Enterprise Community Partners, ReImagina Puerto Rico – a project of the Resilient Puerto Rico Advisory Commission, Mercy Corps and resilientSEE-PR partners: Perkins and Will, and Design Ed 4 Resilience.
The Guide was presented to leadership of the Department of Housing and we discussed ways of collaborating to educate the public. A “Train the Trainer program will follow.
Resilient Planning at Multiple Scales:
A Resilient Framework for Toa Baja
ResilientSEE-PR alliance partners MIT Urban Risk Lab, Perkins and Will, and Alvarez-Diaz Villalon led a second workshop at the Toa Maja Municipality. The 2-day workshop facilitated a consensus dialogue which is part of a resilient planning tool pilot program led by MIT Urban Risk Lab. We were joined by ResilientSEE-PR collaborator Moffatt Nichol and by EPA.
Visit to the Villa Pesquera
ResilientSEE-PR visited Villa Pesquera, the Fisherman’s Village, of Punta Santiago and met with leadership from PECES and the Fisherman’s Association to do a preliminary evaluation of their facility needs and priorities. This is the first step for a collaborative project with Lexington Unites for Puerto Rico and Resilient Power Puerto Rico.
