Puerto Rico Gains a New Ally in Long-Term Recovery

PUERTO RICO, Aug. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hurricane Maria recovery is gaining another major asset on the ground as SBP is set to begin long-term recovery operations on the island in mid-August.

"This has been a long time coming," said SBP Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer Liz McCartney. "We'll finally be able to bring the full spectrum of SBP services and support to help more communities around the island."

To date, SBP has deployed a total of 22 staff and AmeriCorps members to provide immediate relief, mold remediation services and home repairs—spanning five deployments from October 2017 through July 2018.  The addition of warehouse space and administrative offices will enable SBP operations to continue repairing homes in areas like Canóvanas, Yabucoa, Vieques, Barranquitas and Utuado, with a goal of rebuilding and repairing 100 homes in the first year.

In addition to its rebuilding services, SBP works to increase capacity of recovery services by sharing best practices and placing AmeriCorps members with other nonprofit organizations to expand its reach and serve more disaster impacted families faster.

"We've identified several partner organizations that we will support who are doing amazing work in areas like Vieques and Canóvanas," said SBP Executive Director of Puerto Rico Jordan Sanchez. "As our team grows, we can get more people back home. We'll also train and share our knowledge with people across the island and do our part to make the recovery more efficient."

Deployed AmeriCorps members are currently in Vieques with Hope Builders to repair roofs and prevent further damage while SBP makes final preparations to launch several home rebuilding projects. Sanchez and his team have begun building a pipeline of clients and are hiring additional team members to make these projects successful.

SBP is actively recruiting six full-time staff and 20–30 AmeriCorps members by the end of August, with 70 percent of new hires to be recruited locally. For more information on employment opportunities with SBP, please visit sbpusa.org/get-involved/join-our-team.

About SBP
SBP's mission is to shrink time between disaster and recovery. Founded in 2006 in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, SBP has rebuilt homes for more than 1,500 families with the help of 180,000 volunteers in 11 communities across the United States and Puerto Rico.

To learn more, visit www.SBPUSA.org and like/follow on Facebook & Twitter @SBPUSA 

SOURCE SBP

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