State Partnership Program

Video by Andrea Bajandas

Cayey's Community Leaders Program Accelerates Recovery Efforts

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Jan. 12, 2018 | 2:14

CAYEY, Puerto Rico, December 12, 2018 - The Municipality of Cayey's mayor, Rolando Ortiz, gathered all the municipality's employees the day before the hurricane to establish a response action plan and urged people to tend to their families first. After the hurricane passed, the damage was assessed and they realized that it was important for the people of Cayey to take part in the response and recovery process to make the process more effective and efficient. With the help of his team, the mayor took to the available media outlets to to reach out, communicate, and invite his people for a town hall, and the initiative for activating community leader's was born. "Lider de tu calle" is a program where people sign up to represent a specific sector in their community to keep track of claims, damage, food and water needs, distribution, and serve as the voice between the municipality and the sector. All the information is then reported and tracked to be able to delegate and prioritize the claims and work to be done. Andrea Bajandas/FEMA

Videos taken by: Yuisa Rios, Eliud Echevarria, Andrea Bajandas, and in part provided by the Municipality of Cayey.