Previous Story
CARE director reports on organization’s update
With the Federal Emergency Management Agency demobilization soon, Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts director Jenny Hegland noted several ongoing efforts and updates.
Hegland announced that the group is now under the legal counsel of the law offices of Robert Torres, which she says, helps solidify the efforts of CARE.
In terms of recovery efforts, the organization is still quantifying unmet needs, noting that repair and rebuilding home needs have now reached 400 clients.
“We are quantifying how much this would cost to address this need,” with the consideration of the building estimates made by volunteer organization World Renew last month.
According to FEMA federal coordinating officer Stephen M. DeBlasio, more needs and housing assistance are continually being given based on appeals with the $1.6 million allocated on Wednesday.
DeBlasio states that this funding will go toward the Public School System, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the Department of Public Works, Department of Homeland Security, and the Oleai Sports Complex, among others.
Hegland shared that she is currently working on fundraising and communication plans in collaboration with the organization’s communication and resource development subcommittee to apply for a three-year Americorps VISTA or Volunteers in Service to America positions for Karidat and for CARE which will focus on building capacity.
“We really need to be able to understand what the needs are and who we are trying to serve… we are taking the 112 estimates by World Renew and looking at it as a subset that is representative of the entire need,” she says.
Out the 112 clients seen by World Renew, she shares, 25 cases needed complete rebuilds and 87 were home repairs.
Hegland states that the final costs breakdown is still yet to be determined.
Based on the data by village, CARE estimates that 20 to 30 percent of unmet needs individuals are of Northern Marianas descent, in terms of advocating for the use of Marianas Public Land Trust funds for recovery efforts.
