Wildfire Recovery for Entertainment Professionals

Wildfire relief

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Serving the entertainment professionals of Los Angeles since 1916, the Entertainment Community Fund is acutely aware of the challenges a life in the arts can bring. Jobs can be long or short. Pay can be high or low. When an emergency strikes, it is exceedingly difficult to make ends meet.
With substantial experience as a human services provider for entertainment industry workers, when the pandemic shut down productions in 2020 the Fund helped support those who suddenly found themselves unable to pay the rent or keep the lights on. When the 2023 entertainment industry strikes left many out of work, the Fund helped thousands of individuals weather the storm. Although the wildfires are no longer burning, our experience teaches us that their lasting effects will continue as entertainment workers contend with issues like physical displacement, the destruction of homes and possessions and the challenges of navigating government- and insurance-related relief.

With wildfires yet to be extinguished, the Entertainment Community Fund immediately recognized how massively this disaster would impact vulnerable members of the entertainment community. In the early days of recovery efforts, the Fund fielded assistance requests from approximately 60 people per day - twice the average number. The Fund’s established network went into action to provide impacted individuals with financial assistance to purchase food, secure temporary housing and address urgent medical or mental health needs.
This work continues on a daily basis and the Fund is able to provide grants to individuals ranging from $500 to $10,000 with determinations made by MSW-accredited social workers. The Fund has already distributed more than $1.6 million in disaster emergency financial assistance to over 450 people and this number continues to grow.
In addition to financial assistance, wildfire victims can request mental health services, health insurance counseling, affordable housing resources and financial wellness information. The Fund has created and made available multiple resources on our Client Portal, and has gathered a consortium of 18 unions and associations to develop webinars focused on tenants’ rights after a wildfire, disaster unemployment, SBA loans, managing debt and navigating FEMA as an industry professional. Between financial assistance and supportive services, the Fund has already helped provide aid to 800 people impacted by the wildfires.

The objective of the Fund’s wildfire relief efforts is more than participating in a transactional relationship with entertainment professionals in immediate need. We seek to further establish ourselves as their trusted resource for emergency relief, career counseling, mental health support, affordable housing information and health insurance counseling. Like the periods during the pandemic and the entertainment industry strikes, clients are often introduced to our services through emergency financial assistance requests. From there, the Fund hopes to support them over their lifespan. We view our response to various crises as one stage in a life-long relationship with arts workers. As these professionals continue to rebuild their lives after this disaster, many will newly discover that they have a partner in weathering the challenges of a life in the entertainment industry now and in the future.