Wednesday, February 3rd at 3:00 PM EST/4:00 AST
Puerto Rico has suffered the compounded effects of multiple disasters since the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. At the end of 2019, the island was impacted with recurrent seismic activity in the southwest region, including a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on January 7, 2020. In early 2020, the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting health crises induced yet another economic contraction. All these disasters are underscored by a crushing debt crisis and a federally mandated austerity regime since 2016. Multiple natural disasters have exacerbated vulnerability and poverty; and public energy, telecommunications, water, health, and transportation systems have deteriorated and become even more vulnerable, causing systematic failures in social safety nets.
Post-disaster federal funding for economic recovery offers Puerto Rico a unique window of opportunity to restore its economy and infrastructure in a more resilient fashion while strengthening the nonprofit sector capacity for community planning, housing development and neighborhood revitalization. However, such an opportunity is contingent on implementing a comprehensive strategy for reforming public policy to encourage and support nonprofit developers participation in reconstruction programs, building industry capacity by strengthening intermediaries and CDCs, encouraging intra-industry partnerships and collaborations, and providing professional development for economic recovery.
Wednesday, February 3rd at 3:00 PM EST/4:00 AST a webinar to discuss the collection of studies included in Fall 2020 special volume of the Centro Journal showing evidence of how post disaster recovery is progressing in Puerto Rico, and the challenges and opportunities for local participation in reconstruction programs.
Event Cosponsors:
This webinar is cosponsored by
The National Puerto Rican Agenda, National Puerto Rican Student Coalition, IdeaComún,
Puerto Rican Student Association at NYU, Despierta Boricua at Yale, and Urbana Planifica
Presenters:
Entrepreneurial Dynamics in Puerto Rico Before and After Hurricane María
Marinés Aponte, Professor, Business Administration Department at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras
Centros de Apoyo Mutuo: reconfigurando la asistencia en tiempos de desastre
Roberto Vélez-Vélez, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, SUNY at New Paltz
Impact of Hurricane María to the Civic Sector: A Profile of Non-Profits in Puerto Rico
Ivis García Zambrana, Assistant Professor, City & Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah
Puerto Rico Community Development Industry’s Capacity for Disaster Recovery
Edwin Meléndez, Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies and Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College
What is Possible? Policy Options for Long-term Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico
Ariam L. Torres Cordero, Centro Researcher and doctoral student in Urban Planning (DSUP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presenter bios can be found at this link: /education/instructores
Tools
Journal Abstract: CENTRO_Abstract_Fall2020.pdf
Journal Intro: CENTRO_Intro_Fall2020.pdf
Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation Intro (PDF)
Puerto Rico Community Development Industry’s Capacity for Disaster Recovery PPP (PDF) by Edwin Meléndez
A Profile of Non-Profits and Recovery PPP (PDF) by Ivis Garcia Zambrana
CENTRO: Journal Special Issue: Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation is available here http://www.centropr-store.com/centro-journal-vol-xxxii-no-3-fall-2020/
