Government of Puerto Rico Support

The Economic Recovery Support Function (ERSF) team in compliance with IRWA item 5 (a) Advise and Collaborate, made it a key objective to effectively assist the Government of Puerto Rico and COR3 in recovery efforts. In this function, the ERSF Coordinator and the Economic Development Specialist (EDS), have successfully provided pivotal technical support at significant junctures in multiple Puerto Rico government agencies’ projects.

Following the initial disaster response and as the recovery process got started, the Government of Puerto Rico was faced with a roadblock because it did not have access to matching funds, which are required to qualify for and to release many federal funding sources. The Economic RSF identified a source of non-federal matching funds, and, as a result, Puerto Rico gained access to other recovery funds, such as those granted by EDA. Due to this intervention by the ERSF, the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (PRDOH) was able to authorize the use of Community Development Block Grants – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds in two programs: Federal Coordination (Formerly called “FEMA Coordination”) and City Revitalization.

The ERSF also actively participated in the elaboration of the Puerto Rico Department of Housing’s (PRDOH) Action Plan for mitigation funds. PRDOH even integrated the other Recovery Support Functions, at the suggestion of the ERSF. To this end, PRDOH incorporated into its Action Plan two initiatives that are part of the IRWA: the EDD Pilot Project, and the NGO Capacity Building Program, to improve their proposal writing skills and capabilities. 

The ERSF also took a lead role in assisting COR3 with the process of assigning Courses of Action (COAs) to the different state agencies involved in the recovery efforts. The ERSF provided technical assistance to these agencies, identifying resources to implement the COAs and defining metrics to measure progress.