Last November, devastating back-to-back hurricanes Eta and Iota struck communities across Central America. Hurricane Eta, a Category 4 storm, and Hurricane Iota, a Category 5 storm, both came ashore in Nicaragua, ultimately impacting about seven million people in the wide-area from Mexico to Colombia. Communities in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala bore the brunt of the impacts. Tragically, these storms remind us that the effects of climate change continue to disproportionately impact the most at-risk communities across the globe.

Thanks to your generous donation to GlobalGiving’s Hurricane Iota Relief Fund, we have been able to provide immediate and ongoing financial support directly to our local, trusted nonprofit partners working in storm-impacted communities. Here is a snapshot of how GlobalGiving’s nonprofit partners have been making a difference since Hurricane Eta and Iota made landfall:

• Population Council is ensuring that Indigenous Q'eqchi' communities in Chisec, a town in northern Guatemala, receive the critical support they need to recover from the impacts of Eta and Iota. The organization is getting financial resources directly into the hands of Na'leb'ak, an autonomous network of young Indigenous women that connects them to vital resources during the multiple emergencies caused by COVID-19 and the hurricanes.
• Agua Pura Para El Pueblo’s long-standing relationship with a small, remote community in northern Honduras came into play after the community's water system was seriously damaged by the hurricanes. The nonprofit immediately acted to get the pipes and emergency supplies needed to repair the water system. The organization also quickly provided emergency supplies, including clean water, soap, bleach, and face masks, to Indigenous families in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas after their neighborhoods were flooded during the hurricanes.
• Un Techo para mi País Colombia is raising awareness about the impacts of the storms on the Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia. Each island was severely affected by the storms, with a vast majority of infrastructure on both islands sustaining damage. The organization continues to provide emergency food kits and housing support to communities on the islands.
• Integral Heart Foundation has a proven track record of serving local communities in Guatemala over the past 10 years. Following the hurricane and the impacts of Eta and Iota, the organization continues to work closely through its local networks in storm-impacted areas to provide emergency supplies to families that have lost their homes and livelihoods.

The need remains enormous for impacted communities across the region. Within the next two weeks, GlobalGiving will be sending another round of direct financial support to our Central American nonprofit partners on the frontlines of response. We will be in your inbox again in the months ahead with an update about the continued incredible work of our partners.

Thank you again for your generosity and support of community-led disaster recovery.

With gratitude, 

Chase + the GlobalGiving Team

Our thoughts are once again with Texas and our nonprofit partners like Bayou City Waterkeeper in Houston, TX. The area is recovering from winter storms that left many residents without power and water for days. But Texas’ water problems started long before the winter storm.

“A denial of climate change means no real planning has been done to prepare infrastructure to meet increasingly extreme weather, from hurricanes like Harvey to the current freeze—but also more ordinary heavy rain events that our region faces,” said Kristen Schlemmer, legal director at Bayou City Waterkeeper.

Over in Florida, the Federal Disaster Case Management Program provided by FEMA has ended for survivors of Hurricane Michael. The work is not over, so nearly 300 impacted families and individuals were referred to Doorways of Northwest Florida and another local nonprofit to receive continued support. At the same time, Doorways of NWFL has been helping distribute CARES Act funding. This provides support to cover rent, mortgages, utilities, child and elder care, and food expenses for households that lost income due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, in the USVI, the St. John Community Foundation's disaster case management team identified 31 more homes that won’t be repaired under any government program. Organizations like theirs can help fill the gaps, but some residents have had to move on, leaving their homes and the islands behind. Others are still living in tents awaiting a better future. Due to pandemic lockdowns and the limited open hours of the permitting office, the work of reconstructing homes has slowed. Some home projects have been finished though.

One senior citizen, “JN,” moved into her fully rebuilt home a couple of months ago, thanks to the work of St. John Community Foundation. The community came together and donated four pallets of concrete blocks for the walls. Donations from individuals helped hire the labor to build the walls, install windows and doors, and pour a strong hurricane ready concrete roof.

The communities supported by the Island Spirit Fund have suffered setbacks that drive home how important it is to adapt. Bayou City Waterkeeper is working with—rather than against—nature for long-term resilience. Doorways of Northwest Florida is guiding their clients amid three states of emergency (two natural disasters and a pandemic). St. John Community Foundation is figuring out how to build homes with more paid labor while volunteers are unavailable.

Flexible funding from donors like you give these organizations the freedom to invest their time and resources where they are needed most. Thank you for listening to and being part of their stories.

The devastation of Hurricane Maria revealed the longstanding and historical traumas faced by many Puerto Rican communities. Now the pandemic and its complex web of impacts have further built upon and exacerbated these traumas. A critical question has emerged: What does a just recovery mean for Puerto Rico?

Your donation to the Puerto Rico & Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund has ensured that our incredible nonprofit partners across Puerto Rico are able to help answer this question through their critical work in service of communities across the island every single day.

Here’s a brief look at how your donation has helped one of our key partners, Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción (MPA), contribute its own unique answer to this important question.

For the past 10 years, MPA has been at the forefront of inspiring the next generation of citizen leaders to transform Puerto Rico. The MPA team works directly with college students and young professionals to provide them with the skills and connections they need to advance social causes that build a fair, just, and participatory society.

MPA’s flagship program is called the Program for the Empowerment and Retention of Agents of Change (PARACa). Through PARACa, their team provides intensive training every year to a cohort of about 20 youth leaders and places these new leaders in internships with community-based organizations driving social change across Puerto Rico.

After Hurricane Maria, MPA adapted the program to have the youth leaders focus on relief and recovery efforts. This contributed to the long-term resilience of impacted communities and tackled systemic issues that amplified the outsized impacts of the hurricane.

The pandemic caused MPA to make significant changes to the structure of the program, but the organization maintained its core promise of preparing more than 20 young Puerto Rican leaders (even though Zoom!) to excel in the social impact sector. Thanks to your support, GlobalGiving was able to invest in the success of MPA’s 2020 PARACa program and, by extension, in the next generation of citizen leaders in Puerto Rico. Your donation helped shape the answer of what a just recovery looks like in practice: providing the opportunity for Puerto Rican youth to chart a course for their own self-defined, locally-relevant recovery.

Imagining and achieving a just recovery for Puerto Rico will continue to require many unique approaches, voices, and perspectives. Thank you for joining with GlobalGiving and MPA to continue pushing towards that just recovery.

As we’ve done over the last three years, GlobalGiving will continue to keep you updated in the months ahead about how your generosity and support have powered community-led disaster recovery in Puerto Rico.

Be safe and well.

With gratitude,
Chase + the GlobalGiving Team