Mayor McCarthy to Participate in Mayor Exchange Program for Puerto Rico Recovery Efforts
SCHENECTADY – Mayor Gary McCarthy will be participating in a Puerto Rico – Mainland Mayor Exchange Program on Thursday to aid recovery and rebuilding efforts from Hurricane Maria. The program, which was organized by former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu and the Open Society Foundations, is designed to help build municipal capacity and technical assistance.
“It has now been over ten months since the devastation of Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, and they are struggling to restore services while thousands remain without power,” said Mayor McCarthy. “Through the exchange program we can attempt to build relationships between mayors that will help improve their capacity, sustainability and resiliency as they navigate these challenges toward rebuilding their infrastructure.”
Mayor McCarthy was invited to participate in the exchange program by former Mayor Landrieu, who recently served as President of the U.S Conference of Mayors. There are 14 mainland mayors participating in the program, each of whom will be matched with a mayor from a city in Puerto Rico.
Mayor McCarthy arrived in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico on Wednesday to begin working with Mayor Bobby Ramirez Kurtz. On Thursday, the mayors will have a number of meetings with municipal officials on topics such as resilient and sustainable construction practices, coordinating state and federal partners, and approaches to municipal administration under financial constraints.
Later this year, Mayor Ramirez Kurtz will visit Schenectady in continuation of the exchange. Cabo Rojo is on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico and has a population of approximately 50,000 residents