Impact of Hurricane Maria to the Civic Sector: A Profile of Non-Profits in Puerto Rico

Non-profit organizations can play a critical role in disaster recovery owing to their ability to motivate volunteerism, assess local needs, distribute goods, and aid. But few such organizations can successfully navigate the dynamism and uncertainty of disaster recovery. This is particularly true of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Centro journal 2020-09, Vol.32 (3), p.67-88
Main Authors: Garcia, Ivis, Chandrasekhar, Divya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Associations, institutions, etc
Capacity building approach
Collaboration
Cooperative learning
Disaster recovery
Emergency management
Nonprofit organizations
Profits
Telephone surveys
Uncertainty
Volunteerism
Volunteers
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Summary:Non-profit organizations can play a critical role in disaster recovery owing to their ability to motivate volunteerism, assess local needs, distribute goods, and aid. But few such organizations can successfully navigate the dynamism and uncertainty of disaster recovery. This is particularly true of locally embedded, non-profit organizations that typically have a smaller staff, fewer resources, fewer extra-local connections, and much less experience in disaster recovery. In this study, we first created a profile of non-profits in Puerto Rico. Then, we capture the activities that relate to responding and improving their capacity to engage in recovery actions after Hurricane Maria. Data were collected through phone surveys of 235 responses of non-profit organizations as well as in-depth interviews with 21 executive directors of agencies, residents, and community leaders. We discuss four relevant themes in this article: (1) disaster impact on organization, (2) changes in interaction with other organizations, (3) knowledge and use of traditional recovery funding mechanisms, and (4) need for education, capacity building, and collaboration. We conclude with observations on the impact that Hurricane Maria had on the operations of these nonprofit organizations, their knowledge-seeking behavior, new opportunities for collaboration, and access to resources in the post-disaster context. [Keywords: non-profits, Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria, disaster recovery]
ISSN:1538-6279
2163-2960