By The Star Staff
“Living in the City,” an innovative project of the alternative education organization Nuestra Escuela (Our School), will have around 30 homes in the center of Caguas that will include “Nuestro Abrazo” (Our Embrace), a vocational school for the care and well-being of the elderly.
Ana Yris Guzmán, co-founder and CEO of Nuestra Escuela, and Caguas Mayor William Miranda Torres broke ground on the $5.5 million project Tuesday. The municipality of Caguas contributed $3.1 million to the overall cost.
“With ‘Living in the City’ Nuestra Escuela expands its commitment to social justice by serving the growing population of older adults, 60 years or older, who need affordable and adequate housing. At the same time, through vocational education with ‘Nuestro Abrazo,’ we are going to prepare young students interested in working to provide care and well-being services to our elderly,” Guzmán said. “We want our elderly to be able to recover their joy and the ability to feel productive. We want to change the narrative of loneliness among adults. Older adults are closing the generation gap with young people.”
Guzmán urged schools to get involved in working with older adults “so that we can have a more united, more equitable, more loving and better supported society.”
The housing project is in the Ysern Building on Ruiz Belvis Street, at the corner of Acosta, steps away from Plaza Palmer in Caguas. Its location guarantees residents access to restaurants, pharmacies, bakeries, health centers, legal advice, commercial areas, educational services, theaters and other cultural spaces, as well as public transportation, ideal for seniors.
The mayor thanked all “of the collaborators who have made this dream become a reality.”
“This ambitious project not only represents the construction of a building that will provide a home for at least 30 families initially, but is a significant step in the continued revitalization of our city,” Miranda Torres said. “We aspire to integrate this space with our urban center, which is a vibrant place, full of life, where culture, commerce and community intertwine to create a welcoming and attractive environment. We want to continue projecting Caguas as a central district, a cultural hub and residential area that invites everyone to visit us, to fall in love with our city and to settle in it.”
Guzmán noted that the project’s design complies with all regulations established by the Americans with Disabilities Act, with some of the rooms adapted for people with disabilities or reduced mobility.
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