LONG-TERM RECOVERY GROUPS ARE STILL ACTIVE IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
[https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20221005/long-term-recovery-groups-are-still-active-us-virgin-islands]


Release Date: 
October 5, 2022 

ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS -- Soon after hurricanes Irma and Maria
swept through the territory in 2017, members of local community
groups, faith-based, community-based organizations and nongovernmental
organizations collaborated to establish long-term recovery groups on
St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas. Long-term recovery groups are
responsible for helping address unmet needs of eligible disaster
survivors after they have maximized state and federal funds available
to them.

Long-term recovery groups typically include federal partners,
voluntary agencies and grassroots organizations that work in close
coordination to address community needs, distribute resources and help
restore vital support systems – health, social, economic and
environmental systems, among others.

FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaisons (VALs) help establish long-term
recovery groups after disasters and provide a wide range of technical
assistance to state, local, tribal and territorial partners. In USVI,
long-term recovery groups led community engagement and advocated for
resources including technical support, disaster case management and
outreach events, by providing preparedness information to Virgin
Islanders to build resilience.

In particular, the St. Croix Long Term Recovery Group is a cooperative
body that is made up of representatives from faith-based, nonprofit,
government and private sector organizations to assist individuals and
families in Hurricane Maria recovery. The St. Croix Long Term Recovery
Group’s goal is to identify community needs and match resources to
address those needs to ensure the most vulnerable populations can
recover from the disaster.

Taking a hands-on approach to home repairs was a common thread among
the long-term recovery groups across the territory. FEMA provided more
than $370,000 to cover invitational travel costs to more than 400
volunteers who supported the territory. On St. Croix, volunteers use
more than $125,000 in building materials from Lutheran Disaster
Response and the St. Croix Long Term Recovery Group and contributed
25,000 hours to survivor home repair.

Naomi Thomas, a FEMA VAL during the initial recovery after the 2017
hurricanes, recalls the joy she felt during the last nail ceremony to
mark the end of repair job to a disaster survivor’s home. As the
homeowner hammered in the last nail. “Watching the faces of
homeowners enter their newly repaired homes is a very rewarding
experience,” said Thomas, who now works with Public Assistance.

On St. John, Love City Strong continues to work on home repairs,
through both privately funded programs, as well as offering project
management support for federally funded recovery projects. Its
disaster preparedness work includes all hazards preparedness support
on St. John, as well as supply pre-staging and logistics in
partnership with FEMA and VITEMA. Love City Strong maintains
supportive response capacity in the event of a disaster and provides
annual training to its staff to ensure the community is maintaining
relevant response skills. 

Five years later, USVI long-term recovery groups are going strong.
FEMA and its community partners continue to provide disaster
preparedness workshops across the territory. The long-term recovery
groups on St. John and St. Croix have taken recovery a step further
and have established their own Community Organizations Active in
Disaster, commonly referred to as COADs in the emergency management
field.

 [Delia Richardson, Executive Director for Community Engagement for
the St. Croix Long Term Recovery Group, and Aaron VanDoren, U.S.
Virgin Islands FEMA Integration Team lead, engage with the audience in
May 2022 during a disaster preparedness event at First Assembly of God
on St.] 
Delia Richardson, Executive Director for Community Engagement for the
St. Croix Long Term Recovery Group, and Aaron VanDoren, U.S. Virgin
Islands FEMA Integration Team lead, engage with the audience in May
2022 during a disaster preparedness event at First Assembly of God on
St. Croix. Submitted Photo