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About the project
The Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge (RPIC) program, funded by the Rural Development division from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), sought support in the planning process for the Destino 191: “El Yunque del Caribe” project, a community-based initiative from the Cubuy sector in Barrio Río Blanco, Naguabo, to create a Placemaking plan and comprehensive toolkit to revitalize highway PR-191 South.
The project resulted in the publication of the Rural Placemaking Plan for Destination 191 and the Rural Placemaking Toolkit for Puerto Rico: Methods for implementing “Placemaking” in your community.
An attractive destination
One of the community leaders’ main objectives was to create a distinctive brand that identified the Destino 191 initiative while promoting the attractive and vibrant tourist destination—positioning it as an alternative entrance to the El Yunque National Forest through the southern region in Naguabo.
The new brand is representative of the forest’s southern region and highlights its flora and fauna, such as the Yaboa and the Puerto Rican Carpenter birds and the Helicornea and Miramelinda flowers, among other abundant species in the area.
Geographic Area
The project focused on the Río Blanco neighborhood, specifically on PR-191 South. This old road traverses the Florida and Cubuy sectors, with the latter serving as the gateway to the National Forest. Route 191 encompasses significant prehistoric, historical, and ecological assets, and community leaders from the Cubuy sector and FPR took the lead in identifying and revitalizing crucial spaces within the community.
The entrance to the Río Blanco community is marked by a bridge spanning the Blanco River, culminating at the southern entrance to El Yunque National Forest, which leads to the Río Sabana Recreational Area and the remaining stretches of PR-191 within the forest. Road 191 boasts valuable features such as two historical bridges, prehistoric discoveries, an old disused hydroelectric plant, a reservoir, abundant rivers, Charco el Hippie, the La Mina community center, multiple churches, two inns, scenic views of the Caribbean Sea, and the southern entry point to the forest.
Local Leadership
The Cubuy sector in Naguabo has the support of the local non-profit organization—Comité Desarrollo Barrio Cubuy, Inc. This entity comprises community leaders and Cubuy residents who have been working for the community’s welfare for over 12 years. Originally, the group of leaders came together to fight for access to basic services in the neighborhood, such as access to safe drinking water, and the improvement of road and bridge conditions to ensure accessibility. Over the years, the committee has expanded its services to include the recurrent coordination of brigades to maintain the green areas on the PR-191 highway and the Sabana River Recreational Area in the El Yunque National Forest through a volunteer and co-management agreement with the United States Forest Service. Similarly, they have established alliances and collaborations with other non-profit entities — such as Foundation for Puerto Rico — to lead economic and community development efforts through projects such as Destino 191, financed with Rural Development funds from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Technical Assistance
We held various workshops on topics of interest to the community at the La Mina community center in Cubuy. The training sessions included topics such as agriculture, the use of medicinal plants, and soap creation. The RPIC program also provided technical assistance and capacity to leaders of the committee in the following topics:
- Placemaking and planning: Visualization and design of spaces
- Brand creation and marketing strategies
- Strengthening of the local NGO and project management
- Identification of assets to design the Cultural Route
- Multisectoral events and stakeholder management
- Data collection through surveys and analysis
- Fundraising strategies
- Environmental conservation, co-management of assets, and community tourism
Community rural placemaking projects
The “placemaking” (or “creation of places”, from the English “place” which means “place” and “making” which translates as “to do” or “to create”) is a concept that comes from urban development and means the efforts carried out by members of a community to transform and rehabilitate key spaces and places in the neighborhood. At Destino 191, we identified the key places in Cubuy and carried out a series of cleaning, improvements, and maintenance efforts with the purpose of rescuing abandoned places, beautifying deteriorated spaces, and giving new uses to the community’s public spaces.
During the RPIC, FPR supported leaders in the implementation of pop-up demo projects as part of the Placemaking technical assistance and to create momentum in the community, attracting new investment in the area. The following demonstration projects were accomplished:
Rehabilitation of La Mina Community Center:
- Execution of an external mural
- Materials for roof sealing, eaves, and window repair
- Painting based on the colors of the new brand
- Purchase of shirts for volunteers and brigades
- Coordination of volunteer efforts for the center’s painting
- Brand signage for the center
- Materials for the internal mural (work donated by the Puerto Rico Association of Plastic Artists)
- Television, speakers, ceiling fans, bulletin boards for the storage room, and office supplies
- Materials for the creation of a counter for the first building (Visitor Center)
Beautification of areas along Route 191:
- Execution of a large mural in front of Don Josué’s house
- Coordination of an event and volunteer efforts for the creation of the mural
- Installation of an entrance sign for Cubuy
- Community brigades to clean green spaces and the Sabana River Recreational Area
Learn more about Destino 191
A vital part of revitalizing this community is the hands-on participatory planning process. Destino 191 wants to provide the proper tools to the Cubuy Sector so that they can act based on informed decisions.
The participatory planning process includes technical assistance and training on community-based tourism, asset-based community development, and branding and marketing, among other topics.
Alliances with collaborators
Collaborations with key individuals are important to promote the exchange of ideas, mutual support and the sustainability of efforts. Through the project, and various multisectoral meetings and events, we contributed to the strengthening of relations between local leaders and external entities, such as the Rural Development and the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Autonomous Municipality of Naguabo, the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico, Discover Puerto Rico, and the University of Puerto Rico, among others.
