![\"Puerto](\"https:\/\/www.globalgiving.org\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Tarps-and-Blue-Roofs.jpg\")
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B<\/big><\/strong>lue, plastic FEMA tarps form a checkerboard pattern, visible from the top of the Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Bridge. Each square signifies a roofless home.<\/p>\n Below, in eight of the most impoverished communities in San Juan, Puerto Rico, tarps offer a thin layer of protection from the wind and the rain. Approximately 1,200 families in these low-lying communities rely on the tarps since Hurricane Maria slammed into the island six months ago on Sept. 20, 2017.<\/p>\n In an imagined future,\u00a0drawn by\u00a0architects in close concert with people who live\u00a0near Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a, there are no blue tarps. There is, instead, a winding channel of clean water, 3.75 miles in length, that connects the San Juan Bay to the San Jos\u00e9 Lagoon. There is a thicket of mangrove trees and a boardwalk to stroll.<\/p>\n Since Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, advancing this future for Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a seems more urgent\u2014and more possible\u2014than before. The effort has recently been featured in news outlets from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette<\/a> to Mother Jones<\/a> to Rolling Stone<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe community is finally taking its place as the protagonist of its future. People are not waiting for someone else to make decisions for them,\u201d said Mario N\u00fa\u00f1ez Mercado, who was born and raised near the channel and is now part of\u00a0the\u00a0ENLACE Project<\/a>, a community-led initiative to transform\u00a0it.<\/p>\n O<\/strong><\/big>n a windy Friday last month, Mercado stood on the Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Bridge and peered down at Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a, littered with plastic bottles, wads of paper and rusted appliances. He told me what happens after a heavy rain. Water pools into the clogged crevices of the channel and mixes with raw, untreated sewage from thousands of homes. If it rains hard enough, the noxious mixture becomes a river, flooding houses and threatening 26,000 people who live near Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a.<\/p>\n In the wake of the most powerful hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 1932, conditions here were untenable. Cases of Zika and Dengue fever spiked and rats ruled the streets.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Maria, so many people lost their homes. We were the first face many of the residents saw after the hurricane. We were the first ones to come to help and verify that this is not a lost cause,\u201d said Mercado, a retired Puerto Rico Department of Housing employee who is now a volunteer with ENLACE, which promotes civic leadership in the Ca\u00f1o communities as the key to restoring it.<\/p>\n Six months after Maria\u2019s landfall, a lack of faith in local and federal government to adequately respond to Maria\u2019s ravages permeates the island. It extends to entrenched issues, including the stranglehold of debt (now in the billions) and the mass migration of Puerto Ricans to the mainland.<\/p>\n \u201cPuerto Rico was already in a crisis before Maria.\u00a0Now, we\u2019re dealing with the criminalization of poverty,\u201d\u00a0said Lyvia Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle, the executive director of the ENLACE Project.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Since Hurricane Maria hit, more than 200,000 Puerto Ricans have left the island<\/a>, settling mostly in Florida. Today, more Puerto Ricans live off the island than on it, with 5 million<\/a> living in mainland US.<\/p>\n F<\/strong><\/big>or families with little income and savings near Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a, a move of that magnitude isn\u2019t likely. Yet, life at home is increasingly difficult, especially for the elderly who now have to grapple leaky roofs, mold-infested walls, intermittent power, a rat infestation, and a slew of related health issues.<\/p>\n Making matters worse, most Ca\u00f1o residents\u00a0have been denied\u00a0FEMA\u00a0assistance<\/a> because they don\u2019t have titles to their informally built homes. Generations in search of jobs put up unregulated housing along the channel since the early 20th century, including a wave of displaced sugarcane farmers, employees of a World War I military camp, and immigrants from the Dominican Republic. They improved their homes, little by little, if their paychecks allowed.<\/p>\n As insurmountable as the issues facing the Ca\u00f1o communities may seem, they\u2019re not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Representatives from the three groups spearheading the ENLACE Project\u2014the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a ENLACE Corporation, the G-8, Inc., and the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Community Land Trust\u2014have seen what happens when Ca\u00f1o\u00a0residents are decision makers. Their brand of inclusive disaster recovery and urban development requires care, time and money. But, as Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle will explain to anyone who takes the time to listen, this approach is worth it.<\/p>\n After Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle earned her master\u2019s degree in urban planning from the University of Florida, she moved to Paraguay, where she worked with a community in the throes of gentrification after a natural disaster. When she came home to Puerto Rico, she saw the very same issues at play. For the past 12 years, she\u2019s served as ENLACE\u2019s executive director and has been deeply involved in one of the project\u2019s crowning achievements\u2014the establishment of the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Community Land Trust.<\/p>\n The land trust, which won the United Nations World Habitat Award<\/a> in 2015, gives more than 2,000 people collective legal rights over 200 acres of land on which their houses are built, and it guarantees their right to affordable housing, fair resettlement prices, and access to home improvement loans. In the wake of Maria, it could also help families without traditional land titles fight denied FEMA claims.<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle believes the land trust model has the potential to stop disaster relief policies that perpetuate extreme poverty around the world. On a February afternoon, as the sun beat down on the narrow streets of Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a, roosters crowed in a backyard, and soft music streamed from someone\u2019s open window, it was easy to imagine things going ENLACE\u2019s way. The channel would be restored to a pristine state in stages, and people nearby would have a stake in its future. As a fair relocation plan moved forward for some residents, others would have access to resources to build safer homes.<\/p>\n E<\/strong><\/big>ven as the ENLACE Project enjoys progress and praise, its leaders remain on watch, especially in the wake of Maria. Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle doesn\u2019t want history to repeat itself.<\/p>\n In 2009, the Puerto Rico Legislature reversed the legal clause that established the\u00a0Ca\u00f1o<\/span>\u00a0land trust, sparking\u00a0eminent domain\u00a0fears<\/span>. ENLACE fought back, and the case<\/a> made its way to the US Court of Appeals, where a judge upheld the legislature\u2019s reversal. Four years later, after intense community organizing, the Puerto Rico law that threatened the land trust was revoked.<\/p>\n Outside of Puerto Rico, the community land trust model is picking up steam. Across the United States, nearly 250 land trusts now promote equitable revitalization, according to ENLACE.<\/p>\n \u201cStrong social networks are critical after a major disaster,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle said. \u201cPuerto Rico is in a sense up for sale,\u201d she added. \u201cA lot of people are taking advantage of the low real estate.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In response, ENLACE leaders are doubling down, and looking for investors willing to fund the civic leadership side of their mission. When people are equipped with the tools to advocate for themselves, Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle said, it\u2019s harder for developers and government officials to \u201cmove poverty from one area to another\u201d without addressing underlying issues, a threat that intensifies after a natural disaster the size of Maria.<\/p>\n As part of its plan to help Ca\u00f1o communities build safer homes, ENLACE is raising funds on GlobalGiving<\/a> to build hurricane-resilient, zinc roofs for 12 families near Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a.<\/p>\n This is one small part of ENLACE\u2019s multi-tiered revitalization plan. In addition to leading hurricane-related home improvement projects, ENLACE is responding to requests from families who want to get out of Ca\u00f1o communities and find housing elsewhere in San Juan. ENLACE has helped 600 families relocate to date.<\/p>\n To advance the vision for Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a, dredging the channel is also a crucial next step. The cost<\/a> of the entire project, which includes infrastructure improvements and resident relocation, currently stands at $600 million. The federal government has yet to invest as originally planned.<\/p>\n T<\/strong><\/big>o Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle, Mercado and each person involved in ENLACE, the project is priceless.<\/p>\n Jose Caravallo Pag\u00e1n, a Puerto Rican who serves on an ENLACE rehousing committee, is fond of saying the project walks and talks and breathes\u2014because it\u2019s an extension of the mighty Ca\u00f1o\u00a0<\/span>Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a and the people who live near it.<\/p>\n “That body of water, like us, has life. It deserves respect,”\u00a0Pag\u00e1n\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Learn more about how GlobalGiving’s Puerto Rico & Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund fueled community-led recovery efforts after the storm.<\/a><\/p>\n LEARN MORE<\/a><\/p>\n This article was originally published in Women@Forbes.<\/small><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n![\"Puerto](\"https:\/\/www.globalgiving.org\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Mario-Nu\u0301n\u0303ez-Mercado.jpg\")
ENLACE volunteer Mario Nu\u0301n\u0303ez Mercado is a former government employee who is now devoted to the participatory revitalization of Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a. He was born and raised near Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a.<\/small><\/p>\n![\"Puerto](\"https:\/\/www.globalgiving.org\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Puerto-Rico-Recovery_Lyvia-Rodriuez-jpg.jpg\")
ENLACE Executive Director Lyvia Rodr\u00edguez Del Valle looks to the community for disaster recovery solutions.<\/small><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.globalgiving.org\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Homes-in-Cano-Martin-Pena-Without-Roofs.jpg\")
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The first photo is a bird's eye view of Hurricane Maria destruction, and the second shows Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a. The 3.75 mile channel that connects San Juan Bay to the San Jos\u00e9 Lagoon is polluted and clogged. In the last photo, ENLACE's executive director asks a youth leader who lives near Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a to explain opportunities in her community.<\/small><\/p>\n![\"Puerto](\"https:\/\/www.globalgiving.org\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/A-Family-Who-Received-A-Roof_640.jpg\")
This family in Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a is receiving a new zinc roof from ENLACE's fundraiser on GlobalGiving.<\/small><\/p>\n