{"id":71897,"date":"2025-04-08T17:28:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T00:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=71897"},"modified":"2025-04-08T17:28:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T00:28:21","slug":"la-county-deo-announces-19-1-million-in-la-region-small-business-and-worker-relief-fund-awards-for-wildfire-impacted-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=71897","title":{"rendered":"LA County DEO Announces $19.1 million in LA Region Small Business and Worker Relief Fund Awards for Wildfire-Impacted Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, CA \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>As of today, the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has awarded a total of $19.1 million in relief grants to 2,309 workers and 1,372 small businesses and nonprofits as part of the LA Region Small Business and Worker Relief Funds (Funds). This includes $14.52 million for small businesses and nonprofits (awards ranging between $2,000 and $25,000) and $4.62 for workers (all receiving $2,000).<\/p>\n

On February 6th, less than one month after the fires began, DEO mobilized the region to launch both Funds to provide direct cash assistance to impacted workers, small businesses, and nonprofits and kick started the Funds with $1 million. Over the course of the last two months, the County has raised these award funds through a committed and collaborative public-private-philanthropic partnership, including $4 million in County investments, and received 14,477 complete applications in both the Small Business and Worker Relief Funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese relief funds represent real hope for the small businesses, nonprofits, and workers who lost everything in the fires,” said\u00a0Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors<\/strong>. “Recovery won\u2019t happen overnight, but this direct financial support is a critical lifeline to help our communities rebuild and move forward. I appreciate all the partners who stepped up to make this possible. I\u2019ll continue pushing for more resources to meet the ongoing need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ongoing impact of these fires has been devastating \u2014 including for small business owners and workers who lost everything,\u201d\u00a0said Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cLA\u00a0County has taken\u00a0action\u00a0through launching the Small Business and Worker Relief Funds to get direct support to the people who need it most. I\u2019m\u00a0grateful to all of\u00a0our partners who have joined\u00a0us in helping communities begin to recover and rebuild their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as California came together to fight the fires, we\u2019ll work together to rebuild these communities that have been most impacted. This latest round of relief grants will continue to support the businesses and workers that are the driving forces behind Los Angeles\u2019 vibrant and diverse economy,\u201d\u00a0said California Governor Gavin Newsom.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“In just weeks, we stood up and mobilized an unprecedented public-private-philanthropic partnership to deliver rapid, direct relief to the workers, small businesses, and nonprofits whose livelihoods were upended by the devastating wildfires”\u00a0said Kelly LoBianco, Director of the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity<\/strong>. “Our commitment doesn\u2019t end here we will continue to stand with our communities every step of the way as we rebuild and recover.”<\/p>\n

The Funds are supporting businesses, nonprofits, and workers who are most impacted by the disaster in the fire and emergency zones. This includes awarding\u00a0821\u00a0<\/strong>brick-and-mortar and home-based businesses and nonprofits in the fire zone who were fully destroyed, which represents about\u00a050%<\/strong>\u00a0of businesses with less than 100 employees in those zones who were destroyed. Of the total business and nonprofit awards, approximately\u00a050%<\/strong>\u00a0also faced home loss,\u00a050%<\/strong>\u00a0served the community as legacy businesses for 10+ years,\u00a065%<\/strong>\u00a0reported underinsurance, and\u00a065%<\/strong>\u00a0represent diverse business ownership. Of the total worker awards, approximately\u00a050%<\/strong>\u00a0faced permanent loss of employment or income due to the disaster,\u00a044%<\/strong>\u00a0report low-income and use of public benefits, and\u00a028%<\/strong>\u00a0report ineligibility or lack of access to public unemployment assistance. The Funds are also supporting\u00a0283\u00a0<\/strong>impacted creative workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arts and creative sector is part of the social fabric of communities, and one of our significant economic industries locally and statewide. The wildfires damaged the livelihoods of artists, creatives,\u00a0studios and creative businesses, affecting the cultural vitality of LA County. We were pleased to partner with DEO to combine resources to support artists and creatives whose work includes music, art, film, craft, production, and more. It\u2019s crucial both to their lives and because we know their work, and our arts infrastructure, will be needed for the rebuilding and recovery of the whole community,”\u00a0said Kristin Sakoda, Director of the LA County Department of Arts and Culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Funds saw applications from approximately\u00a03,000\u00a0<\/strong>businesses and nonprofits and\u00a02,500<\/strong>\u00a0workers who shared they experienced impact outside the fire and evacuation order and warning zones, demonstrating the far-reaching economic impacts of the emergency. DEO will be working with the State and local partners to conduct an economic impact analysis that supports additional relief and long-term recovery in the areas.<\/p>\n

On April 8th<\/sup>, 2025, awardees began receiving notifications of their selection for funding through AidKit, the Fund\u2019s third-party administrator. Selected awardees must complete a short enrollment form by April 19th to confirm their preferred payment method, including direct deposit for businesses and direct deposit or prepaid debit cards for workers. Prepaid debit cards will be available for pick up at designated times to be shared by AidKit and locations, including the Boyle Heights Impacted Family and Worker Center at 213 E. 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Street, Ste 110 and the West LA Impacted Family and Worker Center at 5446 Sepulveda Blvd.<\/p>\n

At this time, there are not sufficient funds to award all impacted applicants. Those not selected have been placed on a waitlist and will be notified should additional funding become available. The Funds remain open to contributions. Organizations and partners interested in supporting the Funds can do so directly by credit card or through the Fund\u2019s fiscal sponsor, SoCal Grantmakers at\u00a0lacounty.gov\/relief<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These funds were made possible through generous contributions from organizations that have stepped up to help our communities rebuild and recover including LA County, the State of California, Maersk and APM Terminals, LA Rises, led by Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter, business leader and basketball legend Earvin \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson and Casey Wasserman, Fire Aid, California Community Foundation \u2013 CalFire, Wells Fargo, Kayne Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Hilton Foundation, Prologis, Publicis Media, The Korean American Association of Southwest, and New Jersey Capital.<\/p>\n

Resources, assistance, and up-to-date information to support businesses and workers as they navigate recovery and rebuilding efforts are available at:\u00a0https:\/\/bit.ly\/DEOWildfireResponse.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, CA \u2014\u00a0As of today,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71898,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71897\/revisions\/71898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}