Disaster Legal Aid for Communities in Puerto Rico

When 2022 started, Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico's team sat around a planning table to discuss if a permanent long-term disaster legal aid program was needed or if we needed to pivot the project instead. Although committed and involved in the attention of several hundred families still awaiting assistance after the impact of María in 2017 and the 2020 earthquakes, we felt it was time to shift our strategy, prioritize bolder demands and work on climate and housing justice for survivors. Hurricane Fiona, which im[acted on the Island in 2022, gave us a quick, condensed, and violent lesson about the relevance of these long legal empowerment and advocacy efforts. That's when we decided to reach out to you again and renew our strategy. We now integrate a more conscious racial perspective of disaster recovery equity and amplify bolder advocacy at federal and local levels. You answered. We wanted to finish this year with a report summarizing how your support and the support from fellow funders and donors have made a just recovery strategy new, more agile, and effective. This year, our just recovery program accompanied nearly 1350 families. We provided legal education and legal accompaniment and promoted advocacy next to survivors and groups that demand their right to equitable access to funds, dignified housing, and climate justice. We shifted our program to invest more in media, outreach, and policy reports that could create long and sustainable changes in procedures that impact survivors. Moreover, we were able to do more in less time. Your trust has been instrumental. We ask you to continue supporting this effort, even when an active disaster is not present. Instead of a long-term disaster legal aid program, we need a permanent commitment to Just Recovery.