The Humboldt Area Foundation announces a case management grant for earthquake survivors – Times-Standard

[ad_1]

The Humboldt Area Foundation has announced a grant to manage the cases of earthquake survivors. The duration of the grant is one year at an amount of $388,000.

“I think it’s a great way to start a disaster management team and help people get the services they need — it’s money well spent,” said Ali Lee, chief program officer for the Humboldt Region Foundation.

The agency leading the effort, she said, is Arcata House Partnership. Case Managers will predominantly work out of the Rio Dell Community Resource Center, along with the offices of the two other organizations involved, Changing Tides and Arcata House Partnership.

She said the team would be bilingual.

She said the managers would submit the cases to the Humboldt Eel River Valley Long-Term Recovery Group, which Lee said got $30,000 from HAF.

Lee said this group is made up of community members who collect and vet resources so they can help with resource solutions when issues are presented.

She added that the long-term recovery group is new to the field of disaster recovery.

Since the earthquake didn’t get FEMA funding, other groups have to come in to fill the gap.

These groups have included the California Office of Emergency Services and Habitat for Humanity.

Lee said HAF also awarded $360,000 to the Santa Rosa-based Hope Crisis Response Network, which will provide construction management for owner-occupied housing.

After one year, Lee said, HAF will revisit the case to determine who still has unmet needs. She said the goal was to get rid of the yellow and red banners.

According to the county’s information board, there are still 60 red-marked homes and 227 yellow-marked homes.

Lee said concerns about call center problems raised at the last Rio del Council meeting may have been when the lines were switched. As of Monday, she said, there was no backlog of calls.

She said there may have been delays during the transition period, which was March 17th, both phone numbers and systems. She said a disaster management team took over the county at the time and now uses software that prevents duplicate services.

She also emphasized that while the HAF Foundation does not give money to individuals, it has funded several groups initially working on the earthquake response.

“It was truly a statewide effort to support the people of Rio Del and surrounding areas,” said Jarad Petroski, HAF Communications Director, and said he wanted to thank the generous donors who helped make this possible.

He added that the money came from the Disaster Response and Resilience Fund, which covers disasters in four provinces. He said $1.2 million came specifically for the earthquake.

To reach the Disaster Situation Manager, call 707-382-5890.

Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504.

[ad_2]