How to help our island colleagues in the wake of total devastation.

After three brutal hurricanes, the islands of the Caribbean are hurting. It can be hard, in the wake of catastrophe, to know where your donations can be best spent. We’ve contacted several of our colleagues on the ground to find out who’s doing the work and which aid organizations and groups need help now.

Puerto Rico

• Call your representatives: demand that both the Jones Act and FEMA’s matching funds requirement be waived for Puerto Rico. Without these two waivers, Puerto Rico’s recovery will drag on for years. Diasporicans has prepared a simple script for you:

Hi, my name is [your name], resident of District [your disctrict], zip code [your zip code] and I don’t need a response.

I’m calling to ask the [Senator/Congressman/Congresswoman] to join the efforts of some of his colleagues in Congress–like Congressman José Serrano, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Senator Marco Rubio, Resident Commissioner Jennifer González, and others–to put pressure on the federal government to provide more assistance to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after being hit by Hurricane Maria, and on Congress to allocate the necessary funds/resources to do so. Also, to please join some of these representatives on calling for at least one year exemption from the Jones Act or US Cabotage laws to Puerto Rico.

Thank you!

source.

• GoFundMe has been verifying and compiling campaigns for Puerto Rico and other islands impacted by Hurricane Maria.
• Lin-Manuel Miranda has been promoting the Hispanic Federation for both Puerto Rico and the Mexican earthquakes.

US Virgin Islands

• VI Strong Relief Efforts.

Antigua and Barbuda

• Barbuda Recovery & Conservation Trust Fund. H/T Ayana Johnson.

Dominica

• Rebuild Dominica Hurricane Relief. H/T Jake Levenson.

Turks and Caicos

• Weʼre raising $10,000 to support URGENT Disaster Relief for South Caicos following Hurricane Irma. H/T Edd Hind.

British Virgin Islands

• BVI Immediate Relief Fund – Hurricane Irma.

Feel free to recommend your favorite organizations providing aid on the ground in the comments below. We would prefer to focus on ground efforts driven by affected communities, rather than large, international aid organizations.