Giving Compass' Take:

• Lillian E. Agosto-Maldonado shares how one Puerto Rico school is leading the way to resilience through green projects including solar power.

• How can philanthropy support environmentally friendly, cost-saving, climate-resilient projects like this one?

• Find out why Purto Rico is closing 300 schools.

Eight months after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, more than 500 families in this small town in central Puerto Rico remain without power. But one school here has managed to get the lights back on by switching to solar power, part of an island-wide move to rethink utilities that are often taken as a given elsewhere.

The school, Escuela Segunda Unidad Matrullas, lost electricity when the devastating storm hit the island, part of an epic power outage that impacted more than half of this island U.S. territory. Since the school is located nearly 30 minutes from the town center, it was difficult to access after the storm, and the power was expected to be out for months. But thanks to efforts by activists and solar-power providers, in January one building of the school was equipped with 54 solar panels and a solar microgrid for battery storage.

Alberto Meléndez, principal of the school, explained that the installation of the solar energy system in one of the buildings of the school is only the first step to separate the school from reliance on the electric company. "We also want to implement a rainwater harvesting system and work with a seed germination project," he says.

The director added that he already has other nearby schools that are interested in joining the project to make "green" or eco-friendly schools. "We have neighboring schools with two and four solar panels that come here and ask us about our system,” he says.

For the Department of Education of Puerto Rico, this initiative is expected to saving more than $25,000 a year in energy costs.

Read the full article about going green for resilience by Lillian E. Agosto-Maldonado at EdSurge.