Juntos Together

Helping Disaster Areas Renew and Rebuild through Local and Regional Collaboration

In October of 2017, PRAB sought to respond to the string of natural disasters in Houston, Florida, Mexico, Puerto Rico and other Caribbean countries. Our response was two-fold:

Partner with local individuals and organizations to raise funds and collect goods toward disaster relief.
Bring together individuals and institutions from Greater New Brunswick to collectively engage in sustained relief and rebuilding efforts.

Over the first few months, several individuals and groups got together to explore how Greater New Brunswick could provide a sustained response to natural disasters, particularly in areas in which our local residents had ties. We raised money and went to Puerto Rico to provide immediate relief. We also developed linkages and procedures to coordinate relief efforts between Greater New Brunswick and those in local disaster areas.

In January 2018, the group named itself Juntos Together, for which PRAB serves as the coordinating nucleus of this long-term initiative.

Our Approach
Juntos Together employs a long-term community and institutional capacity building approach in its disaster relief response. We foster ongoing collaboration and promote citizen participation as the way to bring about larger scale infrastructure re-design in affected areas.

Juntos Together believes that disaster relief efforts must consider local perspectives and draw on local networks of aid. Indeed, the most effective approaches to community resilience are locally relevant, draw on sustainable local aid sources, and leverage established and renewable relationships across sectors within and outside of the affected area.

Juntos Together focuses its community resilience efforts in three (3) priority areas:
1. Support first responders on the ground by enhancing their response capacity and preventing future loss of key personnel
2. Support local organizations that are focused on sustainability initiatives, especially around energy and agriculture
3. Support efforts to rebuild and create housing for local residents, thus increasing their ability to remain in their communities
Through Juntos Together’s collaborative efforts, individuals and institutions get to employ sustainable approaches that ensure the renewal and rebuilding of disaster areas. We strive to improve food security, environmental quality, and safe and livable housing. In the process, we would help preserve local human capital while strengthening community-based infrastructure.
Grant Awardees
Juntos Together is thrilled to have awarded targeted grants to several initiatives of local and regional organizations. These funds have enabled the groups to make an impact in the lives of the people affected by the natural disasters:
- Casa Pueblo, PR
  
  In support of their Renewable Solar Energy Project, to provide access to sustainable energy to multiple homes in Adjuntas, PR [Fiscal Sponsor: HASER, Inc.]
- Plenitud PR
  
  In support of:
  - The Greenhouse Rebuilding Project, which reconstructed the educational green house at Plenitud Teaching Center in Las Marias, PR
  - The purchase of four (4) 4-person tents, and four (4) 8-person tents to host guests at the Plenitud Teaching Center
- Metro Emergency Response Team, Inc., PR
  
  To repair the fire truck engine of Puerto Rico’s only Volunteer Fire Department, which is used for relief and rebuilding efforts throughout the Island
- Puerto Rico Resilience Fund, PR, A project of Americas for Conservation and the Arts
  
  To build rainwater catchment systems in local Puerto Rico farms
- Collaborative Center for Community-based Research Service @ Rutgers, NJ
  
  In support of their Alternative Service Break trip, which brought Rutgers AmeriCorps Members to created new planting beds, repaired a damaged Retreat Center, and restored local homes in three Puerto Rico municipalities
Our Partners
Juntos Together is working with the following organizations to support their local sustainability initiatives and involve them in our collective community resilience-building work:

Puerto Rico
- Casa Pueblo
- Metro Emergency Response Team, Inc. (especially Fire Chief Eulando Piñero)
- Plenitud PR
- Puerto Rico Fire Department
- Puerto Rico Resilience Fund
Greater New BrunswicK, N:
- Community Action Partnership of New Jersey
- DeVry University
- Learning to the Core
- Middlesex County Workforce Development Board
- National Executive Service Corps
- New Brunswick Tomorrow
- Nina Rios-Rivera
- Professional Latino Firefighters of Central Jersey
- PRAB
- Raices Cultural Center
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
- The Sanctuary of North Brunswick
ELSEWHERE
- Spanish American Law Enforcement Association (SALEA)
- National Coalition of Latino Officers (NCLO)
OUR FINANCIAL SUPPORTERS

Juntos Together is grateful to the individuals and institutions, who have provided financial resources to support our work:
- Ana Berdecia
- Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple
- Benedict & Altman
- Dosdiaz Inc – Pizza City
- Everas Community Services
- Havana Central, Edison, NJ
- Magyar Bank
- Martha Naranjo Professional Services LLC
- New Brunswick Bar Association
- Raritan Valley Baptist Church
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Staff
- RWJF President’s Grant Fund at the Princeton Area Community Foundation (our major funder)
- Saint Barnabas Corporation
- Silver Line by Andersen
WE ALSO THANK EVERYONE WHO DONATED AT:
- Ciclovia in New Brunswick (October 2017)
- PRAB Community Block Party (October 2017)
- Sing for Puerto Rico Fundraiser (November 2018)
- Suydam Street Reformed Church Garage Sale (October 2017)
- And many other giving individuals and institutions