NLIHC and Hispanic Federation Release Toolkit on Citizen Advisory Committees after Disasters

NLIHC and Hispanic Federation have released a joint toolkit on the creation of Citizen Advisory Committees (CACs) for disaster recovery programs. Earlier this year, HUD published the long-awaited Universal Notice outlining the new requirements and recommendations for its long-term disaster recovery program, the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. Among them was a recommendation that states and territories create and facilitate a CAC as they carry out their CDBG-DR programs. This process was utilized in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and other disasters.   

The toolkit provides additional information on the creation of CACs and links to documents used to govern Puerto Rico’s CAC to encourage other jurisdictions to use this model. It was created after NLIHC and the Hispanic Federation co-hosted a webinar titled “Lessons Learned: Citizen Advisory Committees” to showcase the experiences of CAC members, and information about how the effort began and what is planned.   

Despite the devastation of Hurricane Maria, Tropical Storm Fiona, and the 2020 earthquakes, Puerto Ricans have worked to stand together and push for a fair recovery. By successfully developing a CAC – the first in the nation – housing and community organizations and the Puerto Rico Housing Department have created an important example of how to create and facilitate this public participation strategy. Both NLIHC and Hispanic Federation hope that the information in this toolkit will be of use to other disaster-impacted jurisdictions seeking to duplicate their efforts.  

A link to the webinar recording is available here and is included in the toolkit. 

An English-language version of the toolkit is available here.   

A Spanish-language version of the toolkit is available here.