Supporting youth whose learning and lives have been uprooted by the Eaton fire in Los Angeles
As always, Focusing Philanthropy covers all overhead costs. 100% of every donation will go to the 2025 LA Fire Recovery Fund.
Focusing Philanthropy’s LA Fire Recovery Fund addresses educational setbacks resulting from the January 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles, with a focus on students in the economically-diverse Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) who were severely impacted by the Eaton fire’s path. 70% of PUSD students were evacuated, and more than 1,000 families and hundreds of teachers and school staff had their homes destroyed or rendered unlivable. Nine schools also burned down or were severely damaged, forcing students to relocate while navigating temporary living arrangements.
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THREE ORGANIZATIONS
We have selected below three nonprofits that serve the PUSD and whose locally-embedded programs are directly relevant to the heightened need in the aftermath of the fires. Together, they address the educational challenges of profoundly affected youth from kindergarten through high school.
ONE CATALYTIC FUNDER
The New York Times Communities Fund, a partner of Focusing Philanthropy since 2019, has pledged $1 million to join us in this effort. Read interviews in The Times with children who lost their homes and schools in the fires.
READING PARTNERS LOS ANGELES
Reading Partners offers one-on-one tutoring for students falling behind in reading proficiency in grades K-4, including 7 schools in PUSD where tutors were working with ~300 students before the fire. Their program is delivered through a structured curriculum developed with the Stanford School of Education and delivered by trained and professionally-supervised volunteers. At least one-third of participating children at one PUSD school lost their homes and many Reading Partners students at other program schools also lost homes or were dislocated by evacuations. Additionally, more than 800 students from destroyed schools outside the Reading Partners umbrella will be relocated to schools served by the program.
Fire Response Goals:
- Increase tutoring sessions from 2x per week to 3x per week and expand summer programming to accelerate the catch-up from learning loss
- Leverage virtual platform to meet surge in students seeking support, including those who relocate too far from the district to commute to school, and bridge the loss of displaced local tutors
- Distribute free books to families with school-age children through existing emergency food distribution sites
College Access Plan
College Access Plan works exclusively in the PUSD to prepare underserved and underrepresented youth to succeed in college. Through free programs starting in middle school, CAP partners with 16 district schools to provide coaching and peer-support to about 2,000 students annually on topics such as postsecondary options, curriculum guidance, college applications, financial aid, and ongoing counseling to increase persistence in high school and college. CAP supports all post-high school education pathways, with a growing recognition of the benefits of vocational education for many students.
Fire Response Goals:
- Help families determine the best post-secondary option for their children, especially when it involves the child going away for school, as dislocated families may be eager to keep children close
- Support ~250 financial aid appeals among CAP students applying to college or seeking adjustments in existing aid packages due to changes in family financial status post-fire
- Work with students and families considering abandoning post-secondary education to address learning loss, trauma and encourage staying on plan
Young & Healthy PasAdena
Young & Healthy recruits volunteer mental and physical health professionals to provide free treatment to more than 2,000 underserved PUSD youth annually. Their mental health focus is on trauma-informed care and its impact on developmental behavior and academic performance. They also help families enroll in insurance and receive repayment when qualified, thereby reducing the barriers to needed care. In addition to one-on-one care, Young & Healthy offers a range of at-school services, including dental clinics, mindfulness classes, vision screenings and glasses, and parent education workshops. Over 97% of their total clients were subject to mandatory evacuation during the Eaton fire, with more than half of those who receive mental health services living in two of the zip codes substantially destroyed.
Fire Response Goals:
- Expand capacity for student and family group therapy, given that the nature of trauma from the fires affects whole families and classrooms
- Recruit additional volunteer medical professionals to support the surge in mental health challenges and an already-being-observed increase in respiratory problems among students
- Offer parent workshops on the impact of fire trauma on young people, including dealing with dislocation and school reassignment