Disaster Relief: Supporting Community College Students during the 2025 LA Wildfires Crisis and Beyond

• In Event: Guaranteed Income: Understanding Unconditional Cash and Partnerships For Educational Research with Community Colleges

Abstract

Less than two months after the November 2024 launch of BOOST in Los Angeles, California, the largest guaranteed income initiative to date for community college students, a series of massive fires led to widespread evacuations and the loss of housing for tens of thousands in the region, including thousands of community college students and educators. Research on natural disasters reveals these disasters disrupt learning environments for college students even when campuses may not have been physically impacted from the disaster (Breen et al., 2023). Students can experience mental health effects, housing displacement, and issues with transit access which create challenges in returning to coursework (Carales & López (2021). While some disaster research indicates student status in postsecondary institutions offers students a buffer related to direct and indirect impact of natural disasters, others highlight the critical consideration of sociocultural context of natural disasters to distinguish level impact and ways to mitigate harm for students (Gill et al. 2017). For instance, researchers found some students had higher levels of stress, greater economic or personal loss compared to students in other postsecondary schools, despite similar region and disaster exposure emphasizing the importance of institutional effort and preparedness for natural disaster (Gill et al., 2017).
In response to these conditions and with concern for local students' postsecondary attendance and persistence, the Foundation for the Los Angeles Community Colleges opened a disaster response fund and quickly assembled more than $3 million in private resources. This paper documents the design and implementation of the LA Strong: Disaster Response Fund for community college students and educators in Los Angeles in Spring 2025. It explores the relevant literature regarding strategies to address the impacts of disaster for postsecondary students, and provides a case study for those seeking to support students and educators in the wake of a large-scale disaster or disruption.

Authors

• Kelly King, Los Angeles Community College District

• Katy Cisneros, Los Angeles Community College District

• Andrea Terrones, California Youth Empowerment Commission