Meeting – Solidarity Engineering

Guest Speaker:

Erin Hughes, P.E., Chloe Rastatter, Christa Cook

Founders of Solidarity Engineering

Topic: Humanitarian Crisis Engineering; Managing Technical and Non-technical Solutions with Social and Political Implications

Biography

Solidarity Engineering’s three founders – Erin Hughes, Christa Cook, and Chloe Rastatter – met at the US/Mexico border after all hearing the same podcast in November 2019, about the refugee camp that had formed in Matamoros, Mexico. When they learned about the camp’s limited access to clean water and sanitation, the three individually decided they needed to do something. When each of them reached out, they were told that there was no technical or engineering presence at the camp, but that they were welcome to come down and see how they could help.

After working together for months, completing projects in partnership with the asylum seekers, Global Response Management (GRM), the Resource Center of Matamoros (RCM), and other partner NGOs, the three engineers decided to formalize. Solidarity Engineering was inaugurated in November 2020, one year after the podcast, that inspired them to change their lives, aired.