A year and a half ago, an 8.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Mexico and was followed just days later by a second, 7.1-magnitude quake. The devastation was widespread and the recovery is still ongoing—and donations like yours are making a difference.

This past October, GlobalGiving hosted our first class of Disaster Feedback Fellows, a group of ten leaders in disaster recovery who came to Washington, D.C. to attend and speak at the 2018 Feedback Summit, promote their disaster recovery projects to peers and funders, and to learn from other community response teams.

Take a look at what two of the Fellows are doing at organizations like Fondos Semillas to give women a voice in recovery and Cooperación Comunitaria to build back stronger and more resilient in Mexico!

Here’s a look at the work being done by GlobalGiving partners with your support:

Manos Que Reconstruyen Oaxaca, A.C. is hosting workshops for local women affected by the earthquakes to safeguard local knowledge and crafts as well as generate more income for themselves and their families in order to rebuild their homes.

Construyendo Comunidades Integrales, A.C. is harnessing the power of volunteers to join with their construction workers to rebuild a kindergarten classroom destroyed during the earthquakes. The materials used (galvanized steel wire of high strength) will provide a long term safe space for the students. They are also helping rebuild the homes of the Torres and Nava Juarez families.

Fundación San Ignacio de Loyola, A.C. is hosting community workshops and restoring the homes of 20 families. They are including each family in the design of their home through “participative construction” guided by construction specialists.

Fundación Comunitaria Oaxaca, A.C. is working to provide holistic disaster recovery from the reconstruction of homes to psychosocial support; from establishing detection, prevention, and response techniques to strengthening the local economy through small businesses.

Pro Ayuda a La Mujer Origen, A.C. is promoting psycho-emotional support, facilitating the reconstruction of housing, promoting sustainable economic growth through local artisanal textiles and embroidery, strengthening social bonds through meeting spaces and community input, and promoting community resilience through response plans and risk mapping.

IsraAID is further developing their Safe School program in which they support public school communities by providing a holistic, participatory and educational Disaster Risk Reduction approach and tools.

Thank you again for your generous support of the continuing work of helping communities in Mexico recover and rebuild. We're looking forward to sharing more stories of progress with you in the coming months.

With gratitude,
Belén + the GlobalGiving Team

In the year and a half since Hurricane Irma devastated cities and towns across the Caribbean, our nonprofit partners have made tremendous progress leading recovery efforts and improving the resiliency of their communities as they prepare to withstand future natural disasters.

After conducting a Nonprofit Disaster Recovery and Capacity Assessment last year, the St. Croix Foundation for Community Development learned that more than 90% of nonprofits surveyed on the island experienced hurricane-related damage to their facilities. At the same time, nearly 70% of these nonprofits reported an increased demand for their services. In response, the foundation will be supporting a 12-member AmeriCorps VISTA Team that will provide programmatic, technical, research, and outreach assistance to St. Croix's nonprofit community.

Project Promise has taken a holistic approach to disaster recovery on St. Croix over the past year. Their community service projects focused on rebuilding efforts across the island, including planting a grove of coconut trees to aid in the coastline restoration and bringing students from Howard University to the island as part of an alternative spring break program which tackled three rebuilding projects in a single day. They've also provided trauma intervention services to residents still coping with the psychological and emotional trauma experienced during Hurricanes Irma and Maria through their St. Croix Trauma Intervention & Relief Project.

We're happy to share that one of the leaders of our Irma recovery partners, Imani Daniel of the St. Thomas Recovery Team, was selected as a member of the first class of Disaster Feedback Fellows of the Disaster Recovery Network at GlobalGiving. She joined nine other fellows from community-based nonprofits to spend a week in Washington, D.C. this past October learning from each other, promoting their disaster recovery projects to peers and funders, and speaking at and attending the 2018 Feedback Summit.

Your generosity has helped make these stories—and so many more—possible. Thank you for supporting community-led disaster recovery efforts after Hurricane Irma. We can't wait to share more updates on the impact of your donation in the months to come.

With gratitude,
Will + the GlobalGiving Team

It's now been 19 months since Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Gulf Coast and caused historic levels of flooding in Houston and beyond, and we're proud to report that our nonprofit partners remain hard at work helping residents on the long road to a complete recovery. Here's a look at the work continuing to be funded by the 31,803 donors like you who've raised more than $5.2 million in support of community-led relief and recovery efforts.

Houston's S.H.A.P.E. Community Center has continued to fulfill requests for direct financial assistance from individuals and families affected by Hurricane Harvey. They worked with community partners to organize "Healing After Harvey Circle of Resiliency"—a community mental health awareness event to mark the one-year anniversary of the disaster.

Target Hunger will be opening a new food pantry in one of Houston's neighborhoods hardest-hit by flooding after Hurricane Harvey and has transitioned individuals and families who sought help during the storm to ongoing food assistance programs. They will be tracking their constituents' progress through 2019 to determine the long-term impact and outcomes related to disaster recovery for these community members.

The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston and Harris County, in coordination with local partner The Way Home, is working to remove barriers for hurricane-affected residents moving into permanent housing. They've established a fund that's provided more than 600 "welcome baskets" to their constituents full of home goods, furniture, and one-time financial assistance to pay for expenses like deposits that other funding sources may not cover.

As of January of this year, the team at BakerRipley are helping more than 1,700 households repair their flood-damaged homes.  Additionally, they've provided direct financial assistance to more than 5,600 individuals and families and have supplied essential household goods to more than 22,000 families in the Houston area.

We're also happy to share that two leaders from our partners working on Harvey recovery efforts, Shondra Muhammad of S.H.A.P.E. Community Center and Tiffany Stafford of Target Hunger, were selected as members of the Disaster Recovery Network at GlobalGiving’s first class of Disaster Feedback Fellows. They joined eight other fellows from community-based nonprofits to spend a week in Washington, D.C. this past October learning from each other, promoting their disaster recovery projects to peers and funders, and speaking at and attending the 2018 Feedback Summit.

Thanks again for your generous support of the continuing work of helping communities recover and rebuild after Hurricane Harvey. We're looking forward to sharing more stories of progress with you in the coming months.

With gratitude,
Will + the GlobalGiving Team