Thursday, December 4, 2025

Community Healing and Restoration Grant Initiative Brings $8 Million to Fire Survivors

[Image courtesy Pasadena Community Foundation]

The initiative prioritizes emotional, spiritual, and social recovery alongside physical rebuilding

Pasadena Community Foundation, in partnership with the California Community Foundation and other donors, on Wednesday announced $8 million in grants to more than 60 programs aiding survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires. The Community Healing and Restoration Grant Initiative prioritizes emotional, spiritual, and social recovery alongside physical rebuilding.

PCF contributed $1 million to the partnership, supporting eight programs in their entirety and four with joint funding from CCF. In total, 11 programs in the Greater Pasadena area will benefit. The grants represent the latest round of aid from PCF’s Eaton Fire Relief & Recovery Fund, launched Jan. 8. Together with its supporting organization, the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, PCF has distributed more than $20 million in fire response grants to date.

The initiative responds to findings from the California Community Foundation’s LA Wildfires Recovery Needs Assessment, which surveyed more than 630 community organizations in April. Survivors reported ongoing challenges with housing, employment, trauma, and community connectedness. A separate Department of Angels survey of 2,000 survivors found three in four said their mental health had worsened since the fires.

Programs funded through the initiative include neighborhood block parties to share recovery information, trauma-informed family wellness activities, arts classes for grief and connection, and youth leadership opportunities tied to ecological recovery. A 2023 National Institutes of Health report spotlighted such gatherings as essential to long-term healing.

“PCF joined with our partners to make these grants because we believe that it is critical to ensure our neighbors get the support they need to feel healthy, hopeful, safe, and stable. By supporting programs that strengthen well-being and reconnect communities, we can make sure that those affected by this disaster not only can rebuild, but also recover and thrive.” said Khanh Duy Russo, PCF president and CEO.

Among the Pasadena-area programs receiving support:

• Altadena Girls: Expanding a creative wellness hub for girls of color with year-round programs — art therapy, cultural storytelling, dance, journaling, wellness rituals, and peer mentoring — all co-designed with the girls themselves.
• Brotherhood Crusade: Supporting 40 fire-impacted students at McKinley School of Arts through its nationally recognized Trauma-Informed Youth Development Program. The Whole-Person Care initiative spans 24 months, bringing practitioners and supportive services, including mental health care, to help youth heal from devastation and trauma while building life skills, leadership, and resilience.
• Community Clergy Coalition: Hiring a Community Wellness Coordinator to link neighborhood captains, case managers, and a living public calendar. The effort focuses on vulnerable survivors — renters, immigrants, elders, and displaced families — to reduce isolation and coordinate recovery.
• Eaton Fire Collaborative*: Strengthening its Collaboratory hub to unite more than 200 local groups offering counseling, case management, community events, and leadership councils that prioritize the needs of vulnerable survivors.
• Hands in the Soil*: Launching a two-year initiative to provide culturally grounded mental, emotional, spiritual, and land-based care. Weekly offerings include trauma-informed yoga, mindfulness, and healing circles, while Community Care Training Clinics equip residents to lead peer-based circles.
• Jericho Road: Bolstering its Nonprofit Staff Healing & Resilience Program for frontline staff engaged in Eaton Fire recovery, many of whom also lost homes or access. In partnership with four nonprofits, the initiative offers culturally affirming healing through storytelling, artmaking, therapeutic horticulture, and trauma-informed practices.
• Lineage Performing Arts Center: Hosting storytelling, music, and dance workshops for survivors, culminating in a benefit concert and documentary. By creating culturally affirming spaces for grief, joy, and connection, Lineage uses the arts as pathways for healing that transcend cultural and language barriers.
• Live Above the Hype*: Growing its leadership program, launching the Rising Phoenix Wellness Series, and expanding community healing workshops. Efforts include training for educators and frontline staff, building leadership skills, and creating safe spaces for recovery in fire-impacted neighborhoods.
• LOV Olive Branches: Launching Trans4mation, a community-based program with workshops, mentorship, creative arts, and outreach. It strengthens youth empowerment, family healing, community engagement, and personal renewal.
• Neighborhood Survants: Supporting fire-impacted families with transitional housing assistance, mental health services, financial literacy workshops, and disaster case management. Families also take part in creative wellness offerings, including art-based storytelling, community murals, recovery festivals, and youth art labs.
• Outward Bound Adventures*: Engaging 40 youth from Altadena and Northwest Pasadena in a two-year recovery program. Students design and implement Community Action Plan Projects, while the Youth Environmental Restoration Team participates in paid ecological recovery work such as soil remediation and trail restoration. Families join Teach Me to Camp trips, and select youth embark on a nine-day High Sierra Expedition.
• Pasadena Senior Center: Launching a two-year initiative to restore connection, resilience, and well-being among older adults impacted by the Eaton Fire. Building on its role as a trusted hub for 11,000+ seniors annually, PSC will expand enrichment workshops, wellness classes, care coordination, nutrition programs, and introduce new counseling and support groups.
• Pasadena Village: Engaging more than 450 older adults impacted by the Eaton Fire, with a focus on LGBTQ+, African American, Latino/a/x, caregivers, and those living with disabilities. Over 15 new free programs — ranging from resilience workshops to community-building activities with transportation provided — will strengthen mental health, social networks, and recovery.

The Community Healing and Restoration Initiative is funded by the Eaton Fire Relief & Recovery Fund in partnership with a consortium of foundations and donors that pooled and aligned funds in support of fire survivors’ well-being.