In La Maraña, a recurring topic of conversation is being able to clearly define what it means to stay in our communities. What does permanence look like? What are the basics to remain in dignity in front of climate change on an island context and systematic displacement? Through the recovery project after Hurricane Fiona we learned about the food vulnerability to which we are subjected by climatic and political risks. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 is a United States federal statute that provides for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine. Among other purposes, the law regulates maritime commerce in the U.S. waters and between U.S. ports. This means that everything that is going to enter in PR has to enter the ships with the American flag, being one of the most expensive merchant marines in the world. On top of this, PR independently imports 85% of the food we consume. This, added to our island status, puts us before a crass scenario of food vulnerability. This recovery process has opened the doors and the understanding for us to continue actively supporting food production projects on the island. During the month of February 2023 we concluded the second phase of the Food Sovereignty Fund where we organized 11 brigades in support of 11 food production projects around the island. Entering the third and final phase- We aim at an agricultural future that is collectively build from the intersection of the design and construction of best practices for managing resources (air, soil, water) on farms and regenerative economic development practices. For this reason we have been developing a register and rubric in order to begin to compare with the different projects of food production and to define in which project of just recovery of the agricultural landscape we are going to focus. We also developed a short film that protrays what food sovereignty means in our colonial context.
Parallel to this project we are working with the Participatory Design Laboratory. On the first round we find ourselves working with Usubal in Canóvanas were we are working together on a community census, Urbe Apie, Caguas- we are working with making a community plaza and orchard accesible and inclusive and with the fisherman of Crash Boat reconstructing their fishing Villa. Thank to the support and donations we will be able to work with two additional communities- currently we have an open call for this selection process and really excited to know who will be our next collaborators.
Until next time,
Links:
Hola,
These past months have been full of new challenges and multiple adaptations. Nonetheless the team is fine and in good health. We have been quite handful with our response to Hurricane Fiona. Fiona arrived on September 18, 2022, passing through the archipelago as a tropical storm where it strengthened and left the island through the west as a category 1 hurricane. This atmospheric phenomenon had the peculiarity of leaving behind massive amounts of precipitation- leaving Puerto Rico with a record rainfall of 30 inches (OMME, 2022). Thousands of houses in different points were flooded and once again the agricultural landscape was fatally devastated. Faced with this panorama and practicing the learnings from the just recovery model worked for María, we created the Fondo de Soberanía Alimentaria (Food Sovereignty Fund). Already the week after the hurricane we had a general overview of what we should do and how we could do it- El Fondo is a project for the just recovery of the agricultural landscape. It consists of three stages: 1- Rapid action- For this stage, we searched for and interviewed food production projects that had suffered losses due to Fiona and selected 13. Our support in this stage included a cash stipend of $1,200 given to each food production project- (including farmers and fishers), work tools, bottled water and water filters. | 2- Support for the reconstruction of the infrastructure- Through work brigades with volunteers, donated materials and tools- our goal was to rebuild a specific component of the farm. In this process we have rebuild fences, chicken coops, raise planting benches, among others on 6 agricultural projects- 3 more are on calendar to end by the end of the year. | 3- A Just Recovery of the agricultural landscape- We aim at an agricultural future that is collectively build from the intersection of the design and construction of best practices for managing resources (air, soil, water) on farms and regenerative economic development practices. For this stage we have teamed up with VisitRico a local organization whose missions is to strengthen the agricultural economy in the island. It is also important for us to say that this support was possible due to donations received diligently through GlobalGiving in response to the hurricane- for that we are grateful.
At the same time, the Participatory Design Laboratory is going strong. We have had multiple design workshops, site visits, conversations in the different communities and with different stakeholders. With the three communities we currently are at different stages, this is one of the interesting things of working with models, we must always have the flexibility to adapt the plan to the specific conditions of the people and the place. With Los Usubales, Cánovanas we still are at a stage of building trust, we have made walking tours of the community and have introduced ourselves to neighbors and local collaborators. We are in continuous dialogue with the community board and collectively designing a census to understand the population and develop specific strategies for participatory design workshops. This workshops are the initial phases of designing the future community park. In this process we are helping to make possible a cleaning of the drainage areas of the community that brings concern to the neighbors since it is a flood zone. In Urbe Apie, Caguas, after several workshops and visits to the site, we delivered Phase 1 of the design of the Plaza and the Huerto Feliz - where we compiled the products of the timeline, narrative justice and design workshops. We continue to develop together - the next stages as we will integrate expert consultants on issues of structure and vegetation. This process is interesting and dynamic since conversation is generated in a collaborative manner where the community brings the local wisdom of space and the expert consultants bring the technical component dialoguing to generate functional solutions to a common problem. As for the Aguadilla Fishers, for Phase 1 we delivered a Master Plan for the Ecological Restoration of the Crash Boat Beach and Fishing Villa. The strategies for this project has been very political since the pressure for displacement is strong and evident. Private developments gradually take over the space that has belonged to fishermen for centuries and it is becoming more and more difficult for them to carry out their work. We continue to support them from different fronts, one of them is to support them in telling their story. Through a series of videos, the fishermen have been able to amplify their voice to reach decision-making places and generate public opinion.
Until next time,
Links:
Dear all,
This past months have been very exciting for the team. After 2 years of pandemic we were able to go full blast on community visits, workshops, and site-based projects- for us this is life. Physical contact is fundamental for generating confidence, trust and relationships with the communities that we work with.
The Laboratorio de Diseño Participativo (LDP) process has given us the space to go back where we belong, accompanying our communities to pursue their collective dreams of a just recovery using participatory design as our main tool. Through a call for proposals via social media we invited communities to present themselves and tell us about the projects they are invested in and that needed support from us. 6 community groups solicited and 4 of them were selected. The 4 communities represent different environmental and socio-economic contexts throughout the Puerto Rican archipelago. (1) Los Usubales in Canóvanas- nestled in the luscious Northeastern part of the island, near El Yunque Rainforest- this community is product of a relocation process of 141 families from around the island after hurricane Georges in 2006. The government never finished the project, leaving the recreational areas unfinished. We are collaborating in the design of the future community park- La Reina de los Usubales. (2) Villa Pesquera del Ojo, Aguadilla is a community of fisherman located in the Crash Boat beach in the westernmost part of the main island. After hurricane Maria in 2019, the Villa Pesquera was completely destroyed, nonetheless the fisherman has been resisting political, economical and environmental pressure since then. Our objective is to accompany them in the reconstruction of their Villa Pesquera (3) Urbe A Pie is a non-profit organized in 2015 by a group of neighbors preoccupied by the rising abandonment and the lack of places to gather and develop spaces for local economic development in the urban context of the municipality of Caguas. The main goal of our collaboration is to revitalized a the Plaza Feliz- scenario for the monthly community market and the Huerto Feliz- a collective orchard. (4) Mujeres de Islas is founded by a group of women in Culebra to work with the abandoned schools around the municipality. They have been strongly developing projects that has an objetive food sovereignty, local economic development and sustainability of the island. They reached out to us to work together on the rehabilitation of a small public space located near the main port.
Workshops on justice narrative, community mapping, design thinking, urban research and community planning among others are part of the tools we are currently offering to our partners. We have been testing the kits and tools developed for la Cartuchera Comunitaria (visit us here to see what this is about!) throughout the LDP process in order to have a broader input and ensure a product that will be useful for self-managed community organizing and planning processes.
With lots of love,
La Maraña
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Dear GlobalGiving community,
The first three months of 2022 have stormed by! We are deeply grateful for your support, collaboration through this journey over the past four years.
As we transition out of a post-disaster model to a forward-looking creation standpoint, we launched the Laboratorio de Diseño Participativo (LDP) in February. The LDP is a project to share audiovisual and participatory design tools that allow prototyping, designing, and promoting creative solutions to the diversity of challenges faced by community groups across Puerto Rico in construction, infrastructures, public spaces, etc. We have partnered with four communities across Puerto Rico to facilitate and leverage the tools and resources needed to design the solutions that respond to their communities’ most pressing challenges. We are currently developing the plans for the first phase of the LDP to start in May with four unique communities! More on this collaboration soon!
The LDP is part of Nuestre Espacio Común “Our Common Space” (hereinafter, NEC), a platform to research, plan, imagine and collectively build spaces that tell our stories and promote climate justice and equity in our communities. Recognizing the absence of accessible resources to carry out projects that advance climate justice through NEC La Maraña aims to disseminate participatory planning, design, and storytelling tools to organized communities, to enable transformations toward climate justice.
Parallel to the launch of LDP, we have been polishing the latest cut of the Desde Adentro documentary and the Cartuchera Comunitaria. Desde Adentro is undergoing its last editing phase before heading into post-production. In addition, we are planning the distribution of the documentary. Be on the lookout for our social media in the coming months as we launch the film’s social media and website!
As for the Cartuchera Comunitaria (click to take a look) , we have integrated it into the LDP and it will guide the workshops and activities moving forward with the different communities. As La Cartuchera stems from the work done in Imaginación Post Maria, we are very excited to share and use these tools with four different communities eager to transform their surroundings. We are currently revisiting the final texts and tools to launch parallel with the LDP communities in May.
During this time, we joined in celebration of the 20 years of GlobalGiving! It was an honor to be part of such an important achievement and event that brought together many community leaders and organizations from across the world. Thanks to all of you ,for supporting and enabling so many communities and projects worldwide to radically imagine, design and build a better present.
Abrazos,
Dear GlobalGiving community,
As we near the end of 2021, the team at La Maraña would like to share its immense gratitude for all of your support throughout this and all of the years.
Over the past few months, and since we last shared an update with you, our team has been working on transitioning our work from Imaginación Post-María to the next phase of participatory community imagination and design.
As we transition out of a post-disaster model to a forward-looking standpoint of creation and not of repair or mitigation, we look forward to launching Nuestre Espacio Común (Our Common Space.) Our Common Space (hereinafter, NEC) seeks to be a platform to research, plan, imagine and collectively build spaces that tell our stories and that promote climate justice and equity from our communities. Recognizing the absence of accessible resources to carry out projects that advance climate justice, through NEC we will disseminate the participatory planning and design tools developed and make them available to organized communities to enable transformations towards climate justice.
As part of this transition, and 1,500 days after Hurricane María, we made sure to celebrate our partner communities’ successes in an event this past October. This day-long event gave us the opportunity to share in a physical space, after one too many months of virtuality, and once again connect with the dreams and goals that brought us together in the first place. Our partner communities for Imaginación Post Maria -Parceleras Afrocaribeñas por la Transformación Barrial (PATBA), Brigada Palomas, Asociación Recreativa y Educativa Comunal del Barrio Mariana de Humacao (ARECMA)- shared the work of the past three years and their reflections on the importance of participatory design in the the long term vision for the just recovery for communities across Puerto Rico. It was a great day filled with activities, food, joy and connection!
We are also happy to announce that we have launched the preview to our very own Cartuchera Comunitaria™. We invite you to navigate to cartucheracomunitaria.com and familiarize yourself with the characters that will be leading us through the different kits of community planning and participatory design tools. We have Doña Luz with Community Mapping, Toni and his daughter Adriana with Imaginary Workshops, Susana with Community Processes, Marisa with Participatory Design and Dé with Narrative Justice. Our aim is that by the next time we share an update with you we will have launched the full version. Stay tuned to our social media accounts and let us know what you think!
Along with this preview, we are also excited to share that we are almost nearing the end of post-production for our documentary, Desde Adentro (From the Inside) and currently fundraising for the finishing touches of this long-awaited piece. We will soon be launching the trailer to this piece and can’t wait to see your reactions.
We look forward to continue sharing our work with you and thank you for believing in the power of communal and innovative spaces!
Happy Holiday Season!
With so much care,
La Maraña's Team
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