Help St. John Prepare

Love City Strong formed in the immediate aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and for the last 5 years our core mission has centered around community preparedness in St. John. We are acutely aware that the only constant is change, and we make every effort to be both proactive and flexible as we respond to hazards. 

Each year we build upon existing programming, and incorporate new learnings to improve upon our preparedness and response capacity. Community engagement is critical to creating a more resilient environment, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of how to safely interact, particularly with immunocompromised populations. In 2023, we look forward to more in person events that will incorporate all members of our community in conversations and activities to promote preparedness and resilience. 

The main component of our community engagement campaign has long been our annual hurricane preparedness fair. Falling at the end of National Hurricane Preparedness Week each May, this day-long event provides an opportunity for residents to interact with Love City Strong, partner organizations, and government agencies on the topics of preparedness and mitigation. This year the event will feature food, music, and games and activities, as well as giveaways. Additionally, we continue to seek out in person continuing education and skill development training for staff and partners.

There are so many exciting opportunities for creative and impactful engagement that will help build upon the existing preparedness knowledge base in this community. We are grateful for the chance to share our work with you, and for your continued support of our programs. We wish you a healthy and happy new year!

As Love City Strong approaches 5 years since our inception, we are continually auditing ongoing and annual projects, as well as developing new programs to fill gaps in the community preparedness sector. 

This year during hurricane season, we are busy offering services that we have been building upon for several years, and also launching new projects to better serve the residents of St. John. 

Our “Ready in a Flash” program began in 2020 as a way to help residents organize back-ups of their important documents and store them on a flash drive, in the event that hard copies are damaged or destroyed. This year, we sponsored two pop-up events in the park, and did specific outreach to the senior population across the island. 

In July of 2022, we launched a new program to assist community members in clearing debris from their property in order to mitigate potential damage in the event of a storm. We offer this service at no charge to the residents, and it is a big step towards making the island a safer and more resilient place. 

Both of these activities are centered around supporting a more prepared and resilient community, and they also allow us the opportunity to connect with residents to help them access other recovery programs. Whether it is a Love City Strong project, government initiative, or an effort organized by one of our partners, we make sure to keep residents informed about options within the territory.

Our generous donors allow us to maintain and improve upon existing projects, and to continually add to the services we provide. We are so grateful for your continued support.