5X5 DOCKET
Altadena Six Months After the Fires
Summer 2025
How to Help Altadena Survive and Thrive after the Fires
Altadena Six Months After the Fires
How to Help Altadena Survive and Thrive After the Fires
Six months after the Eaton Fire scorched through Altadena and surrounding neighborhoods, local organizations are still leading the charge to rebuild their beloved community rooted in equity, resilience, and collective care, and preventing the same harm from happening again.
From renters to homeowners to workers, the fire exposed how fragile our safety net systems are. It laid bare the cracks of historic disinvestment, underinsurance, the hazards endured by incarcerated or undocumented workers – and showed us who holds the glue. Organizers. Neighbors. Healers. Dreamers. Those closest to the pain moved swiftly into action, even while grieving their own losses. Today they remain deeply engaged resilient, resolved, resourceful.
Decisions made now – whether to rebuild, where to live, how to heal – will shape Altadena and its communities for generations. The five organizations listed below are a selection from the many that embody what makes Los Angeles powerful: It’s ability to transform hardship into action, and to turn heartbreak into strategy. They’ve shown us what’s possible. You can help them with the resources they need.
Essie Justice Group (Essie) | Gina Clayton-Johnson
Essie organizes and builds communities of women with incarcerated loved ones through 60 Healing to Advocacy cohorts nationwide. In Altadena and Pasadena, over 100 members are rooted locally –including Executive Director Gina Clayton-Johnson, who grew up in Altadena. At least 10 members, including Gina, lost homes to fire while others lost parents’ homes or kids’ schools. Essie members responded with 600 wellness checks within 12 days, sent the survey results to elected officials, provided immediate-needs grants, therapy access, healing circles, organized a zoom sharing expertise from four women who were wildfire survivors, and held an Altadena convening for Black climate justice leaders. Essie Justice Group is mobilizing ongoing organizing to demand County accountability and support to ensure communities aren’t left vulnerable again. Gina serves 10,000 Altadenans as an All Together Block Captain and Advisory Board Member, and is a candidate for the Eaton Canyon Fire Collaborative Leadership Council.
Fire Poppy Project | Enji Chung
Born out of urgency and mutual aid, three grassroots organizers mobilized in January to support BIPOC and low-income renters in the wake of the climate disaster. What started as DIY survival for tenants – raising $100K to buy industrial-grade air scrubbers, HEPA vacuums, PPE, and degreasers to remove contamination from soot, smoke, and ash in order to be able to return home – grew into a workforce development project, community defense against ICE, disability access, and climate justice coalition. Over 130 people attended their first town hall after the fire. Fire Poppy trained and then employed 60 day laborers to do professional smoke remediation; they have now remediated 102 homes and trained 150 community members in DIY remediation. For undocumented workers fearful to work, Fire Poppy also provides monthly food support to their families. All remediation services remain free to low-income renters and homeowners, and have been sought by seniors and people with disabilities who cannot do it alone.
Greenline Housing Foundation | Jasmin Shupper
Founded and led by a Black realtor and Eaton Canyon resident to combat the racial wealth gap and legacy of redlining, Greenline has provided people of color with down payment assistance, home maintenance support, and community-rooted financial education since 2020. With 50% of Altadena fire losses affecting Black families , Greenline launched its Eaton Fire Relief Fund, raising $1.25M to date to help Black and Latine homeowners start over. The fund has helped 26 families with up to one year or $40K in rental assistance or direct leasing of subsidized units, and partnered with SOLA to provide free pre-fab ADUs on rebuilding sites. Long term, Greenline is raising funds to award grants up to $250K to 50 families to fill insurance gaps and “rebuild, restore, and remain.” Greenline is also landbanking – they’ve purchased 2 lots (with 10 more pending) to keep properties off the speculative market, and have the goal to build and make new homes accessible to first-time buyers from the community.
Altadena Rapid Housing Solution | Michael Anderson
Architect and urban economist Michael Anderson’s phased, scalable model for ARHS is a bold response to the LA fires that centers underinsured Black and Brown homeowners – it reimagines how people can return home not in years, but in months. Families shelter in 40-foot RVs on cleared lots, transition to pre-fabricated ADUs during construction, and ultimately move into rebuilt homes with junior ADUs for long-term income. The RVs get cycled out to another family, and the work continues. Eight pilots are underway, with 17 more in the pipeline. A $4.9M proposal to the California Community Foundation would return 48 families home by December 2025. Meanwhile, $70-110K brings one family home and covers everything from the RV to a ten-foot tree that restores shade and nighttime lighting. The long-term vision: rebuild 1,800 homes countywide with climate-resilient infrastructure and family wealth-building in mind.
Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy | Wallace Cleaves and Tony Lassos
Led by an all-Tongva board, TTPC (“The People’s Land”) stewards the first Tongva-controlled land since the San Gabriel Mission era. Before the fire, TTPC transformed the Eaton Canyon site into a place of cultural renewal and healing – removing 42 tons of debris, 97% of invasive plants, and 92 flammable eucalyptus trees; cultivating 100+ oak, medicinal gardens, and a seed bank. Though the fire destroyed some gardens and buildings on the TTPC site, their Traditional Ecological Knowledge practices helped protect the oaks and neighboring homes. Once skeptical neighbors now follow their fire mitigation model. TTPC has launched a 5-part webinar series, now underway, called Rebirth Through Fire. They are rebuilding not just the structures, but deeper roots: replanting, expanding ceremonial space, and planning a cultural center for land-based learning, language reclamation, and artist residencies.
Also see: IDEPSCA in the 5x5 Immigration docket for their Wildfire Rapid Response Model immediately re-activated for household workers and day laborers imperiled during the fires and the aftermath.