Resilience and Accessibility for St. John Homes

As the end of the year fast approaches, we reflect on the progress we have made while looking forward to future collaborations.

The common thread throughout every Love City Strong program is the emphasis on building community resilience through training, resource development, and a comprehensive internal preparedness and response plan. Our strength is amplified by the teams of community members utilized in rebuilds, trained in emergency medical skills, and through the number of people returned to storm safe homes.

All of the construction projects completed in 2023 are examples of successful public private partnerships. Our capacity as a group is directly linked to the the support and flexiblity of our donors, who trust us to adapt our programs to the changing needs of the island. We rely on local businesses, organizations, and private donors of all levels to tailor the work to each unique project, and in such a small community we can really feel the impact. 

The majority of our repairs this past year related to increased accessiblity for seniors and other residents with limited mobility. The objective is to reinforce storm damaged homes, building back with an eye towards mitigating damage from future impacts. None of these projects, big or small, would be possible without your support. 

From all of us at Love City Strong, we wish you and your family a safe and healthy holiday season. We continue to be humbled by your generosity, and look forward to sharing our work with you in the new year. 

Links:

• Our Executive Director speaks about Disaster Housing Programs

St. John is the smallest of the US Virgin Islands, with a population of around 4,500 people. As an island community, we are still recovering from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, followed by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Many St. John residents experience both physical and emotional trauma from those impacts daily.

One of the biggest issues is access to safe and affordable housing. Destruction in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria was widespread, with damages all throughout the island. While no one in the community was untouched by the impact of these storms, areas of St. John with high concentrations of low to middle income homes were disproportionately affected both by the event, and in the aftermath of the recovery. 

Recovery is not quick. Love City Strong is committed to building back in a thoughtful and sustainable way, and in order to do this we rely heavily on local partners, and the generosity of our donors. The process can be overwhelming at times, but it is incredibly rewarding to return a resident to a safe living situation. With the help of skilled local contractors, and the support of private donations, we recently completed a full scale rebuild for one of our senior clients. In such a small community, we have the privilege of connecting on a personal level with every individual we serve. It was an absolute pleasure working with this client, and we are all so happy to see him enjoying his newly repaired home. 

The path to recovery is a long one, and it is critical to emphasize community resilience. By establishing partnerships with local organizations and businesses, we ensure that we are prepared to support our island quickly, and internally. We continue to rely on the generosity of our donors, who make a huge impact on our clients every step of the way.