By Mikaela Raphael | Disaster Recovery Network Fellow
The world is wide awake and your attention is as important as ever. The acceleration of the climate crisis is a global issue that disproportionately impacts low-income and BIPOC communities. The effects of climate change have become a devastating reality for California residents and the GlobalGiving community.
As California enters the beginning of the 2020 fire season, the state has already witnessed record-breaking destruction. To date, multiple megafires have burned more than 3 million acres across the state, causing dozens of deaths, rolling blackouts, and unprecedented air pollution.
As the state grapples with the reality and response to these recurring fires, GlobalGiving’s local nonprofit partners continue to act. Many of those impacted by the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise have been affected by the recent North Complex fire.
GlobalGiving partners have been on the ground, leading in all steps of the relief and recovery process. Here is how one of our partners is contributing to wildfire recovery thanks to your donation:
Following the 2018 Camp Fire, the city of Chico gained more than 19,000 new residents overnight. Fleeing the fires in nearby Paradise, many of these people had nowhere to return to. The majority came from low-income communities and formerly resided in housing such as mobile homes or cabins. Those without property insurance have been unable to rebuild and thus are left with few options for safe and stable housing. In the two years since the fire, many survivors continue to reside in spare bedrooms, travel trailers, vehicles, garages, and on couches. Many also continue to live in FEMA trailers, others in motels.
Chico Housing Action Team (CHAT) is continuously working to help the communities affected by the Camp Fire, and the recent North Complex Fire, by finding housing and resources in Chico and surrounding areas.
With the help of donors like you, CHAT has hired a full-time case manager for the CampFire Housing Access Model Program (CHAMP). This case manager is helping fire survivors navigate the time consuming and stressful process of obtaining stable housing. CHAMP has already found success, providing landlords financial incentives such as “signing bonuses” to rent to fire survivors, damage reserve funds, and good tenant training courses. In the program’s eight month history, CHAMP has helped 28 families secure housing. Survivors face many hardships in regaining normalcy, navigating time consuming paperwork and legal battles. CHAT’s goal is to support the larger Chico community and help survivors ultimately obtain permanent housing.
Our local nonprofit partners across Northern California have proven to be increasingly adaptive as compounding disasters challenge their work. In light of recent events, taking lessons from the Camp Fire has only strengthened their response.
Thank you for standing with the community of Chico and supporting community-led response to provide a long term sustainable future.
In solidarity,
Mikaela + the GlobalGiving Team
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When a disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by people who live and work in affected communities are often overlooked and underfunded. GlobalGiving is changing this reality. Since 2004, we've been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support.
We make it easy, quick, and safe to support people on the ground who understand needs in their communities better than anyone else.
They were there long before the news cameras arrived, and they’ll be there long after the cameras leave. They know how to make their communities more resilient to future disasters, and they’re already hard at work. GlobalGiving puts donations and grants directly into their hands. Because the status quo—which gives the vast majority of funding to a few large organizations—doesn’t make sense.
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