Ventura County Community Disaster Relief Fund

Three years have passed since the Thomas Fire changed the face of Ventura County, and more than two years since the Hill and Woolsey wildfires blazed across Ventura and Los Angeles counties.  We have learned firsthand how disaster recovery continues long after the initial intense focus on meeting the most acute needs for emergency housing, medical support, and much more.  GlobalGiving’s contribution to Mid- to Long-Term Wildfire Recovery has helped to support the hundreds of individuals and families who continue their journey along the path to full recovery.

In this mid-term and long-term phase of recovery, we have hundreds of residents who are working through rebuilding, rehoming, and managing debts that accumulated due to fire-related unemployment and/or recovery expenses.  It is also the nature of certain post-traumatic mental and health issues that they arise only after a period of time, and we continue to see fire victims who have been struggling on their own and are now stepping forward for the first time to ask for support.  Many other individuals have illnesses and injuries that were caused or exacerbated by the wildfires, which have now transitioned into chronic issues and must be addressed differently.  Long-term recovery funding enables fire victims to receive targeted, personalized support for their particular needs.

Thousands of people have received assistance with health care, post-traumatic counseling, housing, wage replacement, child care, debt relief, food security, the replacement of essential household items, and the replacement of equipment and transportation for those who are self-employed.  In the words of one Thomas Fire survivor:

“It’s always nice to hear from you and feel we are not forgotten. We are still working on rebuilding our home and are hopefully going to be moving in in the spring. I hate to say it but it doesn’t get easier it just gets harder the longer we are away from our house. We have run out of insurance money and are now using our savings that was meant for our future… We are still struggling with PTSD especially with these winds and the constant fires. Hopefully this will all end sometime soon.”

Below is a list of community-based organizations who have most recently received grants for ongoing recovery efforts:

Hill/Woolsey Mid- to Long-Term Recovery Fund ($693,132.00 total)

• $1,524 to Give-An-Hour to cover costs associated with the Long-Term Recovery Wellness Planning Meeting
• $260,000 to Totally Local VC Agricultural Education Foundation (Local Love Project) for financial assistance to families to bridge the gap in rent payments, finding rentals in apropos price range, rebuilding and home repairs, moving costs, replacement of furniture. Include repayment of debt incurred due to loss of a home-based business
• $25,000 to Institute for Collective Trauma and Growth for organizational support to sustain long-term recovery responders of the Hill and Woolsey fires
• $44,800 to Totally Local VC Agricultural Education Foundation (Local Love Project) to provide case management and resources to fire victims
• $165,600 to YMCA – Southeast Ventura County for second year scholarships to the Y for 92 families who lost homes in the fire
• $82,700 to the Los Angeles County Long-Term Disaster Recovery Group to provide a Construction Navigator to provide construction expertise to case managers and their clients (100% LA County); funds will be used by the Los Angeles County Long-term Disaster Recovery group (LARCRO)
• $58,373 to Interface Children and Family Services for staffing and infrastructure for disaster recovery data and case management for long-term recovery efforts related to the Hill-Woolsey Fire
• $41,400 to Catholic Charities, Ventura County for recovery and rebuilding assistance for eight Hill-Woolsey fire cases
• $13,735 to individual assistance for those personally affected by the Hill and Woolsey Fires.

Additionally, VCCF awarded $875,000 to support survivors of the Thomas, Hill, and Woolsey Fires with housing assistance. We partnered with local organizations, Totally Local VC Agricultural Education Foundation, YMCA – Southeast Ventura County, and Interface Children and Family Services, who will distribute this direct support to 250 very low-income families. Distributions were as follows:

• $125,000 to provide $2,500 to 50 Thomas Fire survivor households
• $125,000 to provide $2,500 to 50 Woolsey Fire survivor households in Ventura County
• $125,000 to provide $2,500 to 50 Woolsey Fire survivor households in Los Angeles County
• $500,000 to provide $5,000 to 100 Woolsey Fire households in Ventura or Los Angeles Counties.

Disaster relief is complex and we have found that granting to many organizations, varied in size, constituency, and areas of focus, is the best way to ensure that all community members receive the integrated recovery care they need.  The Ventura County Long-Term Disaster Recovery Group is a coalition of local service providers that works closely with VCCF, and this group manages an integrated case management protocol.  Additionally, grantee organizations track their work in ways that are most appropriate to their services and constituencies and report back to VCCF.  VCCF also meets regularly with grantees regarding disaster relief as well as capacity-building and resiliency efforts to learn more about these actions. 

Long-term disaster philanthropy offers a special type of support to the community -- as months and years pass from the disaster event itself, and long after attention has turned to the next most-pressing needs, our community members need to know that they ‘are not forgotten.’  The year 2020 showed strikingly how a global pandemic and political unrest simultaneously exacerbated the struggles of wildfire survivors while simultaneously commanding the attention of philanthropic organizations.  GlobalGiving’s support to long-term recovery could not have been more timely, and you have the profound gratitude of all of us at the Ventura County Community Foundation, and our partner organizations working tirelessly throughout our region.