In order to cover all our areas of interest in the region, and to carry out programs that work as efficiently and impactfully as possible, at Outreach Aid, we have strategically divided our labor among several major initiatives. America’s Relief Team (ART), ECHOCuba, the Community and Port Resiliency Program (C-PReP), CIFAL-Miami and General Ministry. Each of these initiatives covers a distinct key area of OAA’s work.

EchoCuba is a ministry of Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA). Due to the critical political situation in Cuba, relief and aid work on this country is not as straightforward as on most other countries in the region. Legal and logistic complications arise all the time when shipping humanitarian relief cargo to the island. Religious communities, pastors and churches are regulated and limited by the government, thus needing an increased effort in advocacy. These differences make it important for an organization to have a certain level of expertise to conduct work there. EchoCuba, whose name was the original name of our organization which used to focus on the island, remains as a crucial part why OAA is leader in our type of humanitarian work in Cuba.

As evidence of OAA’s commitment to serving its local partners and vulnerable people in Cuba, the Caribbean, and Central America, OAA has an initiative that is activated to respond to emergencies, including natural disasters, global health crisis, and other type of emergencies. For instance, ART Emergency Operation was activated to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. The ART Emergency Operation consists of putting in motion a sequence of strategic emergency protocols that include raising needed funds, accessing critical relief supplies, obtaining logistics support, and partnering with other ministries & relief agencies to provide assistance to the victims in the countries that we serve. The latest actions of the ART Emergency Operations was to launch two separate “Relief Funds”.

Preparedness or resilience is the ability of people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses while reducing vulnerability and facilitating growth. Our Community and Port Resiliency Preprogram works by a series of training conferences where we guide each air and seaport through a self-assessment of its plans, preparedness, equipment, and capability to function during disaster response and relief activities.

UNITAR has been actively engaging with Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA) and Florida International University (FIU) to lay the groundwork for CIFAL Miami.

The primary thematic areas that CIFAL Miami aims to address include:

• Emergency preparedness
• Environmental resilience
• Sustainable Development
• and Social Empowerment.

The trilateral agreement between UNITAR, OAA, and FIU will be finalized in 2024, paving the way for CIFAL Miami to commence its operational activities later this year. For more information, contact: Maricarmen Estrada [email protected]

The General Ministry is a humanitarian program under Outreach Aid to the Americas, dedicated to supporting Latinoamerica and Caribbean countries affected by disasters, promoting social development, and providing critical humanitarian aid.

We aim to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable communities by:

• Providing emergency assistance: food, educational items, medicines, clothes, and potable water.
• Offering long-term support for rebuilding and recovery efforts.
• Empowering local communities through educational trainings, healthcare initiatives, business development support focusing on marginalized groups, women, and children.

By working together, we strive to create sustainable solutions that address the root causes of poverty and vulnerability, ultimately fostering a more resilient and prosperous region in LAC countries and The Caribbean. For more information, contact: Victoria Cedeno [email protected]