California
California Disaster Recovery & Wildfire Readiness
Program Start: January 2025
From long-term recovery in Altadena to wildfire preparedness across Santa Cruz and Alameda Counties, All Hands & Hearts is building a year-round presence in California that helps communities recover, prepare, and become more resilient.
Recent Updates
Disaster Profile
The 2025 Los Angeles wildfires were one of the most devastating disasters in California’s history.
The Los Angeles Wildfires ignited on January 7, 2025, beginning with the Palisades Fire, which rapidly spread due to an extreme wind event. Just hours later, the Eaton Fire sparked, quickly intensifying the devastation. Both fires, along with several smaller blazes, tore through residential neighborhoods, local businesses and community centers, fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds and dangerously dry conditions. More than 50,000 acres burned, over 16,000 structures were destroyed and 28 lives were lost. At the peak of the crisis, more than 200,000 people were under evacuation orders, making this one of the most deadly and devastating wildfire events in California history.
California Recovery Goes Beyond the Headlines
Recovery creates resilience.
All Hands & Hearts is building a long-term presence in California that connects disaster recovery with preparedness and resilience. Through trusted local partnerships, we help communities recover after disaster, restore schools and community spaces, and strengthen wildfire preparedness before the next emergency.
Recovery doesn’t end when rebuilding is complete. It continues until families feel safe, schools thrive, neighbors reconnect, and communities are prepared for whatever comes next.
A displaced family returns home. A neighborhood at risk becomes a neighborhood ready. None of it lasts without the people who stay.
One State. Two Timelines. One Mission.
California is one state, but communities are living very different realities.
While communities in Southern California continue the long road to recovery, Northern California is preparing for future wildfire seasons through community readiness and risk reduction.
AH&H works across both timelines because resilient communities require both recovery and preparedness.
Southern California
Recovery
Our work in Altadena and Los Angeles County focuses on helping communities rebuild stronger after the Eaton Fire.
Current initiatives include:
- Home repair and rebuilding support
- School recovery and campus revitalization
- Outdoor learning spaces
- Murals and campus beautification
- Community gathering spaces
- Food security and fresh produce access
- Corporate volunteer engagement
- Local business partnerships
- Family-centered community events
Through partnerships with schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and community leaders, AH&H continues supporting long-term recovery well beyond the emergency response.
Northern California
Readiness
In Santa Cruz and Alameda Counties, AH&H is helping communities prepare before disaster strikes.
Through California’s Community Wildfire Readiness Program, supported by the Cal OES LISTOS grant, we are developing programs focused on:
- Community preparedness workshops
- Emergency planning education
- Wildfire awareness
- Trusted information and alerts
- Chainsaw safety training
- Defensible Space and Zone 0 implementation
- Home hardening education
- Community tabling and outreach
- Local partner capacity building
Prepared communities recover faster.
Why California?
California experiences some of the nation’s most complex disasters.
Wildfire recovery often continues for years after emergency response ends, while communities across the state face increasing risks from future wildfires, extreme heat, and climate-related disasters.
AH&H is investing in long-term partnerships that allow us to support communities throughout the entire disaster cycle, connecting recovery with preparedness to build stronger and more resilient communities.
Why All Hands & Hearts?
Our approach combines Recovery, Readiness, and Relationships into one connected model.
Unlike organizations that focus on only one phase of disaster management, AH&H works across the full continuum by combining:
- Volunteer-powered implementation
- Community-driven project development
- Home rebuilding and recovery
- School and neighborhood restoration
- Disaster preparedness education
- Wildfire mitigation initiatives
- Long-term local partnerships
Our work is built alongside communities, not simply delivered to them.
California in Action
Home Recovery
From immediate post-fire needs to long-term rebuilding, AH&H helps families move closer to safely returning home. Our work has included smoke and ash remediation, home repairs, rebuilding support, debris and material removal, and volunteer-powered recovery projects tailored to the needs of fire-affected households.
Youth Empowerment
Schools are at the heart of community recovery. AH&H works alongside students, educators, families, and local partners to restore classrooms, improve campuses, create outdoor learning and gathering spaces, install murals and landscaping, and bring volunteers directly into school recovery.
We also create opportunities for young people to take an active role in recovery, from student-led service projects and school-supply initiatives to youth participation in community preparedness. Recovery becomes more powerful when young people are not only supported, but empowered to support one another.
Community Partnerships
Long-term recovery is local. AH&H works alongside organizations already trusted by their communities to identify changing needs, develop projects, mobilize volunteers, and connect resources where they can have the greatest impact.
In California, our work has included collaboration with partners such as Altadena Farmers’ Market, 24LA, Santa Cruz County Long-Term Recovery Group, Cal OES/Listos California, schools, community organizations, local businesses, and disaster recovery partners. These relationships allow our work to continue evolving long after the immediate emergency has passed.
Food Security
Recovery is about more than rebuilding structures. Families recovering from disaster are often navigating displacement, increased expenses, and disruptions to everyday life. Through our partnership with Altadena Farmers’ Market, AH&H is helping fire-affected households maintain access to fresh, nutritious produce, while supporting a locally rooted organization that continues serving the Altadena community.
Wildfire Readiness
We are also working before the next disaster happens. In Santa Cruz and Alameda Counties, AH&H is helping residents turn preparedness into action through Zone 0 and defensible-space projects, home-hardening education, chainsaw and safety training, household preparedness, community workshops, and volunteer engagement.
Through California’s Community Wildfire Readiness Program, supported by Cal OES/Listos California, we are combining hands-on mitigation with education and local capacity building so that preparedness knowledge stays within communities. The live page already identifies this grant relationship, so it fits naturally here.
Looking Ahead
California’s disaster landscape continues to evolve. AH&H is committed to remaining a trusted partner for communities before, during, and after disasters by investing in long-term relationships, volunteer-powered implementation, and locally driven solutions that extend well beyond emergency response.
Our vision is to help California communities not only recover from disasters, but become stronger, safer, and more resilient before the next one.
