The Office of Disaster Recovery conducts multiple engagements throughout the year to guide and support grantees with their recovery goals, share best practices, and provide updates on achievements with the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds in their jurisdictions. One of these efforts was the 2023 CDBG-DR Problem Solving Clinic held in Chicago, Illinois, from April 25 to the 27th. CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT grantees, sub-recipients, and grantee partners networked and learned about specific rules, Federal Register notices, cross-cutting requirements, and successful examples for launching and implementing disaster recovery and mitigation programs.

The 2023 Clinic was held in a hybrid format to ensure that many participants could join from all over the country. HUD’s Office of Disaster Recovery team in San Juan served as panelists for a session on April 26 about Puerto Rico’s Energy Improvements and the Grid. Participants learned how CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT funds could be used for energy and electrical grid projects, about the experiences of the Puerto Rico Department of Housing with various energy and electrical grid projects funded with CDBG-DR and MIT funds, and about the collaboration with the Department of Energy on energy and grid projects in Puerto Rico.

Federal partners continue working together to build strong relationships with grantees to ensure long-term performance and compliance and that national and state efforts address the citizens unmet recovery needs.

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