ORLANDO, Fla. – The City of Orlando is announcing a new initiative that will give residents access to resources like power and Wi-Fi after an extreme weather event.
On Tuesday, the Orlando Office of Sustainability and Resilience teamed up with the University of Central Florida to unveil the mobile REACH Hub.
Officials said the project is designed to enhance community access to critical resources and strengthen resilience across the region.
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The Mobile REACH Hub is a portable unit equipped to deliver support services to underserved populations in the wake of major disasters.
“The nice thing about it being mobile is we don’t have to deploy it and leave it somewhere. We can deploy it for a day in one place (and) move it to where else it might be needed,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.
When needed, the trailer can be delivered to a community and provide off-grid solar power for residents to charge cell phones, access free public Wi-Fi, and air-conditioning.”
“If we have those days in summer when it’s 95 degrees after a hurricane’s come through and you haven’t had any power for a couple days and people just want to get cool, they’ll have that opportunity to cool off,” Dyer said.
City officials said resources like the REACH Hub help build upon ongoing resiliency efforts at neighborhood centers to help educate, support and provide critical resources to people with the greatest need.
The REACH Hub was built using $350,000 of a $1 million federal grant, according to city officials.
Dyer said the project, which also has an educational component, would be tested over the next year and could be expanded in the future.
“There are two areas to put in refrigerators or different things so we still probably need to figure out what the best use of those spaces are and change them as appropriate.”
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