Tessa LeSage, chief impact officer of Collaboratory, and her partner, John Romaine, community resilience strategist for the foundation, were invited to the April 1 meeting of the Greater Pine Island Civic Association to share possible future opportunities there could be for supporting resiliency on Pine Island.
Collaboratory is working with Lee County to use a $19 million grant from the EPA to strengthen the county’s disaster preparedness by creating resiliency hubs at Collaboratory, Franklin Park Elementary, the IMAG History and Science Center and Pine Manor Community Center.
LeSage began by explaining Collaboratory’s role, which is helping the community give back to the community.
“We also do work with non-profit organizations to help build their capacity, to help apply for grants together, to find ways for us to work together, where problems require more than one organization to be able to actually make a difference,” LeSage said.
She went on to explain that, as a neutral, third-party organization, Collaboratory has the opportunity to bring organizations together who have problems they cannot solve on their own. Resilience, she said, is one of those issues which cannot be solved alone or easily.
“I would encourage you to look at Collaboratory, and if you are interested to learn more, we are happy to follow up with you,” LeSage said.
She then explained that the plan she was referencing began in February 2023, just a few months after Hurricane Ian. The county, she said, wanted to work on developing a plan that would go above and beyond the HUD money that was coming in. This, she said, would allow for the seeking of additional funding on a much longer term.
