California

San Francisco Bay Area

95476

CEO

AFTER THE FIRE USA

Ensuring you have a plan for your animals, both large and small, is a critical piece of preparedness and resiliency. One of the greatest traumas in disaster is the loss of animals.

1. Who works in this space? Who is effective?

Since 2018, Rebuild has been recognized as a new model for recovery that facilitates the roles of the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. RNBF’s Executive Director Jennifer Gray Thompson has shared this model across the country with leaders in the recovery space, from FEMA to local OES, to national recovery nonprofits in Washington DC, Florida Panhandle, Texas, and across the state of California. The message has been clear and incredibly well received: the space of disaster is in dire need of innovative models that include long term organizations solely dedicated to disaster. And these organizations must help communities recover through peer-to-peer mentorship; facilitation of public private and nonprofit partnerships; citizen advocacy for changes to the federal relief structure and application process; and most importantly, listening to the new challenges and opportunities brought by climate change.

We do not aspire to substitute any current structures of relief; we do aim to fill the gap to ensure that every community has an equal opportunity to recover, rebuild and reimagine.

Our services are founded on strong values. We begin by listening and helping those in front of us first. Because each community is unique, and every fire has its own new challenges, we area always learning, always working to adapt, and seeking ways to fill gaps and provide support where it doesn't exist. No matter what, we pledge to always act with integrity and humanity.

We coordinate and convene in order to fill gaps in communication, rebuilder needs, etc. For example, we hold Community 2 Community© zoom meetings to meet with community leaders and survivors from the American West to learn about recovery. We are the fiscal sponsor for organizations that are helping rebuild or supporting rebuilders. We support equity in recovery and resiliency as well as economic development through grant-making.

Contact us to learn more about:

Community Preparedness Services

Community 2 Community Meetings

Block Captain and Zone Captain Programs

360-degree Navigation Team of Advisors

Climate adaptation means employing both soft and hard infrastructure that both mitigates the effects of climate based disasters as well as enabling us to live alongside perils. This is the Era of Megafires. We cannot assume otherwise of engage in magical thinking.

We coach local county gov'ts on how to access funds, use volunteer hours for matching requirements, and work with the community in concert. Everyone has a role to play, but finding lanes is a significant challenge. We've lived it so we lead from experience, but only provide systems and advice that are adaptable to the needs of the affected communities. We are not heroes. We are helpers.

After disaster people are displaced and scattered. After the Fire: Recover. Rebuild. Reimagine. provides online seminars so people can attend from their current location, yet stay on track with their community recovery no matter where they have landed in the meantime. A wide range of topics are covered in these workshops, and expert guests are invited to speak with valuable information. All seminars are are recorded and distributed to that community for anyone who could not attend the live session.

Follow us on social media to learn about upcoming seminars, and check out recordings of previous sessions on our YouTube channel.

In 2020, Rebuild launched a Scholar in Residence program to foster research in disaster preparedness, response, and resiliency. Our goal is to promote honest discussions, create opportunities to improve, and move the field of disaster towards a more innovative arena.

In 2020, we launched our North Bay Forest Improvement Program (NBFIP) Rebuild NorthBay Foundation (RNBF), in partnership with the five Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) of Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, and Napa counties and Clear Lake Environmental Research Center, is offering the North Bay Forest Improvement Program to forest landowners across the four-county north bay region. This three-year pilot program is made possible thanks to $1.5M in Proposition 68 funding awarded via a CALFIRE Wildfire Resilience and Forestry Assistance grant. This program brings critical resources to treat wildfire hazards on private properties throughout the region, with a focus on serving disadvantaged communities. The North Bay Forest Improvement Program (NBFIP) supports planning and implementation of projects on private forested lands to reduce risks of wildfire and promote forest health. The program provides financial incentives to landowners to conduct this critical work.

In 2020 we are launching the Taking Action on Wildfire Resiliency, a regional and collaborative public-private effort focused on advancing climate adaptation, forest health strategies to reduce wildfire risks and related life and property losses. Our focus is on catalyzing enterprise-based treatments and other economic incentives in partnership with landowners, businesses, service organizations, and public agencies located in four North Bay counties (Sonoma, Napa, Lake, and Mendocino). Thanks to Dr. Lisa Micheli, PhD. and our Environment & Sustainability Committee for their leadership.

No disaster affected community should begin at the beginning.

We support and mentor newly disaster survivor communities in a variety of ways; Advocacy, Mentorship, Survivor Networks and Partnerships. We understand the challenges of undergoing the trauma of experiencing a major disaster and then searching for answers on how to recover, rebuild, and reimagine. We are not prescriptive; we are adaptive.

We don’t have all of the answers, but we do have a number of strategies, tools, and resources to help other communities affected by any type of disaster, from wildfires to pandemics to wind and rain events. Our goal is to shorten the “pain period” between disaster and recovery. We know from expertise and experience that our work in this area is effective and fills a significant gap in disaster relief and recovery. We #PayItForward in partnership with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Together we can.

Pay it Forward
C2C: Community to Community Program 2020-21

Amidst a global pandemic, the west coast experienced a devastating fire season. In California alone, over one million acres burned while Oregon, Washington, and Colorado suffered through mega wildfires that devastated towns across the American West. Rebuild traveled to fire affected regions in a COVID safe manner and performed community outreach and support while also listening to the particular challenges and needs of each area. During this time, we have remained mindful that post-disaster recovery is different under the constraints of COVID-19 and we have pivoted to meet the need during this difficult time.

Rebuild NorthBay has committed to a number of measures to assist these areas in their recovery, including virtual convenings of fire survivors who are 1-3 years post disaster in order to share their strategies and experiences as well as answer questions. With the support of Fannie Mae, we have ensured this effort is long term, ongoing, and responsive. We are deeply appreciative of our large network of leaders, both emergent and organizational, who have given their time and expertise to these communities.

We do not charge communities for this work. The only thing we ask is they step up into our survivor network in years to come to offer their help to newly disaster affected communities. We are confident that we can recover if we support one another, community to community. One thing is clear: disasters are a predictable factor in our lives for the foreseeable future. Each of us has a role to play in how we collectively recover, rebuild and reimagine.

#PayItForward

On November 8, 2018 we looked up into the sky and saw a huge plume of smoke coming from the northern area of Butte County. It was the Camp Fire and at that moment, people were running for their lives to escape what is the most deadly and destructive wildfire in California history.

At the same time, the Woolsey Fire erupted in the Malibu area, resulting in devastating destruction. Until this date, Rebuild did not anticipate developing a Pay it Forward program, however the prospect of watching these communities begin at the beginning was unthinkable from a humanitarian point of view.

We recognized the gap of service between the local, state, and federal relief: community to community; survivor to survivor counsel, advice, and navigational mentorship. Our Pay it Forward Program was born of this need.

Within 12 days of the Camp Fire, Rebuild’s executive director Jennifer Gray Thompson met with the public leadership in Butte and Paradise. At that time, Jennifer was introduced to Charles Brooks who would go onto create Rebuild Paradise Foundation which is an adapted model of Rebuild NorthBay Foundation, but with their programs, mission, and funding are entirely independent. Jennifer provided that critical mentorship in Year One and since then Charles has emerged as a leader and mentor on his own. Under his leadership, RPF created new programs that fit their community needs and reduced the barriers to rebuilding. In 2020, RPF earned the distinguished “Nonprofit of the Year” for California State Senate District 4 (Jim Nielson).

Rebuild NorthBay provided mentorship to the Malibu Foundation for the first year of their existence coming out of the Woolsey Fire. As part of our service, Rebuild hosted a convening in March of 2019 in Santa Rosa, California that brought together leaders from Paradise and Malibu to meet with people who set up systems of care here in the north bay. With the support and participation of Fannie Mae, we spent two days together listening and sharing strategies, mistakes, lessons, and ideas from Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, and Napa organizations and emergent leaders. Stakeholders and leaders from both Paradise and Malibu left this convening with tools and relationships to help move their recoveries forward better, faster, smarter, stronger.

Since 2018, Rebuild has been recognized as a new model for recovery that facilitates the roles of the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. RNBF’s Executive Director Jennifer Gray Thompson has shared this model across the country with leaders in the recovery space, from FEMA to local OES, to national recovery nonprofits in Washington DC, Florida Panhandle, Texas, and across the state of California. The message has been clear and incredibly well received: the space of disaster is in dire need of innovative models that include long term organizations solely dedicated to disaster. And these organizations must help communities recover through peer-to-peer mentorship; facilitation of public private and nonprofit partnerships; citizen advocacy for changes to the federal relief structure and application process; and most importantly, listening to the new challenges and opportunities brought by climate change.

We do not aspire to substitute any current structures of relief; we do aim to fill the gap to ensure that every community has an equal opportunity to recover, rebuild and reimagine.

On November 8, 2018 we looked up into the sky and saw a huge plume of smoke coming from the northern area of Butte County. It was the Camp Fire and at that moment, people were running for their lives to escape what is the most deadly and destructive wildfire in California history.

At the same time, the Woolsey Fire erupted in the Malibu area, resulting in devastating destruction. Until this date, Rebuild did not anticipate developing a Pay it Forward program, however the prospect of watching these communities begin at the beginning was unthinkable from a humanitarian point of view.

We recognized the gap of service between the local, state, and federal relief: community to community; survivor to survivor counsel, advice, and navigational mentorship. Our Pay it Forward Program was born of this need.

Within 12 days of the Camp Fire, Rebuild’s executive director Jennifer Gray Thompson met with the public leadership in Butte and Paradise. At that time, Jennifer was introduced to Charles Brooks who would go onto create Rebuild Paradise Foundation which is an adapted model of Rebuild NorthBay Foundation, but with their programs, mission, and funding are entirely independent. Jennifer provided that critical mentorship in Year One and since then Charles has emerged as a leader and mentor on his own. Under his leadership, RPF created new programs that fit their community needs and reduced the barriers to rebuilding. In 2020, RPF earned the distinguished “Nonprofit of the Year” for California State Senate District 4 (Jim Nielson).

Rebuild NorthBay provided mentorship to the Malibu Foundation for the first year of their existence coming out of the Woolsey Fire. As part of our service, Rebuild hosted a convening in March of 2019 in Santa Rosa, California that brought together leaders from Paradise and Malibu to meet with people who set up systems of care here in the north bay. With the support and participation of Fannie Mae, we spent two days together listening and sharing strategies, mistakes, lessons, and ideas from Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, and Napa organizations and emergent leaders. Stakeholders and leaders from both Paradise and Malibu left this convening with tools and relationships to help move their recoveries forward better, faster, smarter, stronger.

Every community must lean into the reality of climate based disasters, preferably in advance, to enact systems that will actually aid their community in the event of a disaster. There are no blanket solutions for all communities, therefore listening to the community, performing a SWOT Analysis, and a Community Asset Map, are key first steps. It is also important to engage all sectors of a community to prepare and plan. Too often government believes they must "go it alone" when this is not how disasters play out in real time.

Since 2018, Rebuild has been recognized as a new model for recovery that facilitates the roles of the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. RNBF’s Executive Director Jennifer Gray Thompson has shared this model across the country with leaders in the recovery space, from FEMA to local OES, to national recovery nonprofits in Washington DC, Florida Panhandle, Texas, and across the state of California. The message has been clear and incredibly well received: the space of disaster is in dire need of innovative models that include long term organizations solely dedicated to disaster. And these organizations must help communities recover through peer-to-peer mentorship; facilitation of public private and nonprofit partnerships; citizen advocacy for changes to the federal relief structure and application process; and most importantly, listening to the new challenges and opportunities brought by climate change.

We do not aspire to substitute any current structures of relief; we do aim to fill the gap to ensure that every community has an equal opportunity to recover, rebuild and reimagine.

After the Fire is building on the work of the nonprofit 501c3 Rebuild NorthBay Foundation, an ongoing resource for all communities experiencing disaster. We incubate and innovate new ways to respond, rebuild and reimagine post-disaster.

We have three main buckets:
1. Before the Fire (Wildland Forest Restoration)
2. Resilience and Recovery Technology & Innovation
3. Community to Community (C2C): Pay it Forward; Lessons Learned in the Fires

Since 2018, Rebuild has been recognized as a new model for recovery that facilitates the roles of the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. RNBF’s Executive Director Jennifer Gray Thompson has shared this model across the country with leaders in the recovery space, from FEMA to local OES, to national recovery nonprofits in Washington DC, Florida Panhandle, Texas, and across the state of California. The message has been clear and incredibly well received: the space of disaster is in dire need of innovative models that include long term organizations solely dedicated to disaster. And these organizations must help communities recover through peer-to-peer mentorship; facilitation of public private and nonprofit partnerships; citizen advocacy for changes to the federal relief structure and application process; and most importantly, listening to the new challenges and opportunities brought by climate change.

We do not aspire to substitute any current structures of relief; we do aim to fill the gap to ensure that every community has an equal opportunity to recover, rebuild and reimagine.

After the Fire USA was born as a nonprofit in the midst of the 2017 San Francisco North Bay megafires. Our model is a disruptor to the disaster space, but we are highly collaborative. It is effective, scalable, and innovative. We are rising to meet the challenges of this climate crisis, address issues of equity not only defined by traditionally marginalized BIPOC, but also RURAL counties that have little capacity to access funds and systems to help them recover.

How We Do It
Collaboration
Rebuilding the North Bay better, safer, greener, and faster will depend upon building coalitions, fostering stronger connections across sectors, and ensuring we use data that is vetted and reliable.

We engage in advocacy with our public sector partners, providing our website as a digital platform for rebuilding, convening public, private and non-profit leaders from across the region to solve collective challenges, and addressing post disaster gap needs through partnerships to address needs related to disaster preparedness.

Rebuild is proud to lead collaborative efforts of the public, private and nonprofit sectors to fill immense unmet needs that otherwise would fall on the backs of our most affected and financially vulnerable residents: those who have already lost everything. We strongly believe the fire affected communities need and deserve our full attention until every family is home.

Communication, Connection & Data
This website is intended to be dynamic, expansive, and we depend upon users to offer feedback, suggestions for content, and event submissions. We view this site as a collaborative effort. We want to hear from you. Let us know what you need and what you are thinking.

Advocacy
We support our region in partnership with elected and non-government officials at the state and federal level to ensure our economically vital region receives the necessary government funding for our region to recover and rebuild.

Our work is driven by the central question: “What do you need and how can we help?”

After the Fire: Recover. Rebuild. Reimagine. is emerging as the most trusted, effective and transformative nonprofit organization for wildfire recovery and resiliency in the American West. We collaborate with public officials (city, county and state), private sector, nonprofit community, and most importantly we connect friends and neighbors who have lost everything but possess a resilient community spirit.

We lead it because we've lived it. We support communities as they RECOVER from fire, REBUILD their lives, and REIMAGINE a more resilient future through prevention, innovation, and facilitating the connection from one fire-impacted community to another.

Rebuilding wildfire disaster communities of the American West in a way that is better, safer, greener, and faster will depend upon building coalitions, fostering stronger connections across sectors, and ensuring we use data that is vetted and reliable.

We engage in advocacy with our public sector partners by providing vetted and accurate information and supporting community leaders as they speak up for the unique needs their communities face. From podcasts to publications, seminars to workshops, we develop and share current views and best practices for solving collective challenges, and leverage partnerships as we address that gaps in support and resources that emerge post disaster.

After the Fire: Recover. Rebuild. Reimagine. is proud to lead collaborative efforts of the public, private and nonprofit sectors to fill the immense unmet needs that otherwise would fall on the backs of our most affected and financially vulnerable residents. We strongly believe the fire affected communities need and deserve our full attention until every family is home.

Flexible: Full refund up to 3 day prior to event, except fees (travel and service)