Supporting Community Development in Puerto Rico

In la Maraña displacement is an imminent threat that constantly shapes our work and collaborations. The closing of over 600 public schools has been a detrimental move against the well being of our communities, specifically impoverished youth. This massive school closing initiative has resulted in abandoned spaces, many of them quickly deteriorating over the lack of maintenance. These spaces have since become niches for animal plagues and clandestine garbage disposal. 

In response to the closings many communities have organized recovery efforts reclaiming schools and turning them into learning hubs, organizing spaces, green infrastructure and living quarters. 

Hence our interest in sustaining those types of community efforts from our Participatory Design Lab we have partnered with Proyecto Impacto Comunitario, Inc, in Fortuna Playa Luquillo. Their school recovery effort is intended to preserve and utilize an abandoned schoolground in their coastal vicinity with the mission of promoting social justice, integral well being and strengthening the resilience of those most vulnerable. 

In our partnership we have agreed to collaborate with 2 work brigades, an imagining workshop and a 5k inversion. At the time of this report we volunteered with a team from Stryker, one of the world's leading medical technology companies to hold a solidarity brigade. During the brigade we scraped and painted four classrooms, we cleared the surroundings from garbage and debris and were able to leave the space with equipment and materials for next brigades or community efforts. 

We believe that there is an urgent need to rehabilitate spaces for the community, prevent them from becoming part of the speculative real estate market and from being consumed by climate change erosion and damage. 

With your financial support we can continue the work of our Participatory Design Lab. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay updated and see how communities reach their goals and make their desires reality.

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In the recent months as we continue to work with the Guayanés community in Yabucoa with the efforts to re imagine government-closed school grounds in their vicinity, we have been able to assist with some improvements.

The Guayanés community alongside La Maraña’s Participatory Design Lab came up with a plan to create a garden in the school grounds. When collaborating we had noticed the center area of the school grounds had an asphalted patch, that within the Caribbean coastal context did not contribute to lowering temperatures, on the contrary it added to the increment of heat. Since then, this patch has been cleared of the asphalt and is now intended to become a garden for native species, fruits and vegetables that could foster self sufficiency and replenishment for the community.

The proposed community garden will help mitigate temperatures that characterize our communities since historical construction and urbanism have favored the sowing of cement and pavement. We believe that the inclusion of a garden within a marginalized, isolated community will not only promote participation and community cohesion but help guarantee a healthy lifestyle for all ages.

The transformation of this vacant lot has the intention of strengthening our efforts for ecological restoration, adaptation to climate change, particularly regarding heat island effects and food security.

This is only the initial phase for this portion of the Hostos Frente al Mar and La Maraña’s Participatory Design Lab collaboration. At this point we have learned that the soil under the patch of removed pavement presents severe compaction, limiting considerably it's capacity to sustain vegetation.

To transform this space into a productive and economically active we still need to plow, apply topsoil and have a high-quality compost, as well as to acquire appropriate vegetation. We already count on our great team of volunteer and experts for the implementation of the process but have yet to find over $10k in funding to purchase the materials needed to continue its development.

 By donating financially, you can help sponsor this project to acquire compost, topsoil and vegetation for the proposed garden.