Webinar: Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation Wednesday, February 3rd at 3:00 PM EST/4:00 AST

RSVP at https://centropr.nationbuilder.com/webinar_post_disaster_recovery 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. Join us Wednesday, February 3rd at 3:00 PM EST/4:00 AST for 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. 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 Community Development Corporations and Reconstruction Policy in Puerto Rico Ramón Borges-Méndez, Associate Professor of Community Development, Department of International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University 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: https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/education/instructores 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/ Center for Puerto Rican Studies http://centropr.nationbuilder.com/