The California Community Foundation announced on Monday, Nov. 24, that it has awarded $6 million in grants to 14 nonprofit organizations throughout Los Angeles County, which will then provide direct support to survivors immersed in recovery from Palisades and Eaton fires.
“As we approach the holiday season, we are providing immediate relief as families struggle to meet their basic needs while also confronting the long road to rebuilding,” said foundation President and CEO Miguel A. Santana.
The payments will benefit organizations, including the Altadena Chamber of Commerce, Eaton Fire Collaborative, Pasadena Village, the Malibu Chamber of Commerce and other nonprofits in the Pacific Palisades and throughout Los Angeles County.
Foundation officials said their efforts are guided by findings from the most recent survey conducted by survivor advocacy group Department of Angels, whose wildfire recovery efforts are fiscally sponsored by the foundation. Of the fire survivors surveyed, the Department of Angels found that more than one in five people with household incomes under $100,000 have had to cut back on food, and about one in six have had to skip medical care.
- Also see: These homeowners survived the Eaton fire, but can’t hold out forever for more direct help to rebuild
“On a daily basis, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the city who have their own personal fires that they’re trying to fight,” said Wade Trimmer, president of The Change Reaction, a recipient of the grant.
As survivors head into the holiday season, nearly 10 months since the deadly fires, families are struggling to meet their basic needs while also confronting the road to rebuilding, Santana said.
That road has led to delays in rebuilding, with some wondering if between food insecurity, insurance delays and rising costs, if they will make it back to the areas they once lived, pariticularly in the Altadena area.
The 110-year-old L.A.-based California Community Foundation manages $2.3 billion in assets and oversees 1,900 charitable organizations, funds and legacies with a mission to “create lasting impact throughout the region.”
The foundation operates the Wildfire Recovery Fund, which has raised more than $100 million to fund grants for each phase of recovery. The fund supports various kinds of organizations providing wildfire relief, including financial assistance for displaced individuals, the rebuilding of homes and community infrastructure and mental health services.
Since the Eaton and Palisades fires, the foundation has awarded more than $30 million in grants to a network of 200 nonprofit organizations in L.A. County, which range anywhere from direct relief organizations to faith-based institutions.
The $6 million award comes amid calls for more direct financial assistance and scrutiny into how funds raised by benefit concerts and charitable organizations intended to support fire survivors are being used.
In the spring, Eaton fire survivor and Pasadena community advocate, Martin Gordon, sent a letter on behalf of himself and other survivors to the Pasadena Community Foundation, asking for more direct funding to homeowners looking to rebuild, highlighting Altadena’s Black homeowner community.
Many local nonprofits receiving money from foundations have taken on the role of distributing the funds, a kind of middle link between the foundation and the survivor. For Martin, chairman of the Pasadena Community Coalition, the process could be streamlined with direct payment to the survivors, so they can rebuild faster.
However, the message was clear on Monday that the process will be similar: The funds will go to more localized organizations such as food banks, schools, and senior centers, directly responsible for providing aid to those affected by the fires.
In September, the law firm Latham & Watkins conducted an investigation into the use of funds from the FireAid Benefit Concert after “media reports and public inquiries have raised concerns regarding the distribution of the charitable donations raised.” FireAid then released a six-month progress report detailing its benefiting organizations and how much money they’ve received.
On the one-year anniversary of the Eaton and Palisades fire, a handful of L.A.-based musicians will host “A Concert for Altadena” to raise funds for the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, a charity that concert organizers said was deemed the best to donate to.
According to the California Community Foundation, grantees on their list were confirmed to have previously provided cash aid to survivors and will continue to do so. These organizations are community-based and serve vulnerable populations such as seniors.
Gordon remains skeptical, especially after months of frustration communicating to nonprofits that survivors need money to rebuild. He underscored that Altadena previously had the highest rate of Black homeownership in the country.
He hopes to see organizations that say they give direct financial assistance to survivors create a mechanism for documenting, in order to hold themselves accountable.
Gordon said that organizations should engage directly with individuals in the community to fully understand their needs, instead of resorting to the same nonprofits to which they continue to donate.
Organizations receiving funds from the foundation:
-Altadena Chamber of Commerce-The Change Reaction-CORE Community Organized Relief Effort-Eaton Fire Collaborative-Foundation for the Los Angeles Community Colleges-Lift International-Malibu Chamber of Commerce-Malibu Community Long Term Recovery Group-Pacific Palisades Long Term Recovery Group (Pali LTRG)-Pasadena Altadena Coalition of Transformative Leaders (PACTL)-Pasadena Village-Project Passion-Villa Esperanza Services-YMCA Metro LA