Our societal and environmental challenges are increasingly more complex and are affecting all parts of the world – communities everywhere are at risk. Aside from the need for adequate shelter, the citizens most affected by climate change disasters are often those in need of basic, vital resources. These are needed in the immediacy following an event, but often, also, long before. Underlying vulnerabilities reveal social injustices and unreliable infrastructures.
Our team has spent countless hours engaging with people on-the-ground in their homes, streets, gardens, schools, and community centers and in places as far as Senegal, India, and Ecuador to right here at home in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, and East Harlem. No matter the socioeconomic challenges, political contexts, and environmental risks, the basic needs identified by communities are the same:
- A safe place to learn and play.
- A reliable place to work.
- Access to healthy food, clean water, and medical care.
- These are made possible only when reliable energy, communications, water, and sanitation are in place.
- These are also the very infrastructures that fail in times of crisis.
