Amanece

Road to Recovery Nonprofit
Grant Opportunity RFP

Hispanic Federation (HF), the premier Latino nonprofit membership and grants making organization, announces its Amanece/Road to Recovery Puerto Rico Nonprofit Grant Opportunity, part of HF’s UNIDOS Disaster Relief & Recovery Program. A total of $3.1 million is available from this fund, which primarily aims to seed innovative projects which can ensure that the island will not only survive, but thrive in the future.

Hurricane Maria has brought unparalleled devastation to Puerto Rico. Since taking care of basic human needs is of utmost urgency, the vast majority of resources have been focused on disaster relief. Yet HF strongly believes that Puerto Rico needs a vision of how the island can rise up better and stronger than ever.

Hispanic Federation believes local nonprofits and the communities they serve must have a role in creating this vision for a new Puerto Rico. Amanece/Road to Recovery’s goal is to fund innovative projects with a long term vision for the recovery and rebuilding of the island and its communities, and which emphasize resiliency, sustainability, self-sufficiency, local input and coordination, and long-term recovery. Nonprofit projects can focus on strengthening “hard” infrastructure (housing, energy, communications), as well as supporting and strengthening “human capital” infrastructure. Examples include:

• HOUSING
  Creating resilient transitional and permanent homes in local communities and with local input and coordination
   
• AGRICULTURE
  Development of community farms; reseeding of deforested areas; creation of sustainable fisheries
   
• JOB AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
  Catalyzing the long-term retraining of individuals as agricultural or environmental-focused workers
   
• ENERGY AND COMMUNICATIONS
  Creation of more advanced and resilient electrical and communication infrastructures
   
• ENVIRONMENT
  Creating innovative systems and initiatives for erosion repair and control, cleanup and management of waterways, and water filtration systems that enhance self-sufficiency

Projects which clearly show how local communities will be included in the planning, design and implementation of projects will be heavily favored. In addition, HF will fund the creation of a Long Term Recovery Committee with nonprofit stakeholders, which will be tasked with the creation of communication & education platform, and a long term preparedness plan addressing infrastructure resiliency.

HF estimates 25 to 50 grants of $50 - $100,000 will awarded for recovery and rebuilding efforts. However, if needed, up to 25 percent of any one grant can be allocated for continued emergency relief efforts, focusing on food, water shelter, or on temporarily increasing capacity to serve an expanded client population.