Introducing the Department of Angels

The following ran on the Department of Angels website on Thursday, February 6, 2025.

The Department of Angels was born out of hundreds of conversations with community members, disaster experts, and survivors of the megafires. Since January 7, we’ve talked to individuals directly impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires and to leaders who have guided other communities through megafire recovery. We learned that success or failure often turns on the capacity of community members to design and lead their own recovery. 

Our mission is to serve that purpose.

Just as our elected officials have staff, and our private-sector leaders have staff and resources to help them, the Department of Angels exists to provide capacity for our community.

Our purpose is to ensure that the communities impacted by the Eaton and Palisades megafires steward their own recovery. The Department of Angels is not a government or private-sector initiative; it is a grassroots, community-driven network focused on ensuring impacted residents have control over their recovery.

The Department of Angels will provide independent resources, expert-informed solutions, and project management support to empower residents to rebuild on their terms. We believe it takes more than brick and mortar construction to rebuild communities. It requires community organizing and sustained attention.

The Department of Angels is here to help Los Angeles recover.

What will the Department of Angels do?

• The Department of Angels will provide direct project management and advocacy support to residents, ensuring their voices and needs are represented at every level of the recovery process.

• The Department of Angels will provide residents with vetted, independent data, resources, and expert-informed solutions, helping them make informed decisions with information beyond government or corporate sources.

• The Department of Angels is actively linking Altadena, Pasadena, the Palisades, and Malibu communities, fostering a shared recovery movement. 

• The Department of Angels will work alongside existing community leaders and organizations to coordinate and amplify their efforts.
  

What’s next?

• The Department of Angeles will solicit community feedback and ideas, recruit a team, and advocate for recovery dollars and solutions. 

• The Department of Angels will establish working groups on near-, medium- and long-term priorities for community recovery. Based on early conversations with people who have been impacted and people who want to help, we have heard that the following areas are highest priority:

  • Funding Coordination & Accountability 

  • Resilient Rebuilding (Builders, Architects, Designers, Researchers, etc.) 

  • Legal Advisory 

  • Economic Development & Small Business Resilience 

  • Mental & Physical Health 

  • Youth Services 

  • Workforce Development 

  • Community and Cultural Infrastructure 

  • Advocacy at the Local, State, and Federal Levels

  • Communications

• The Department of Angels will build on the extraordinary generosity shown during the megafires, offering local Angelenos - and those who love the City - meaningful opportunities to help impacted communities where they need it most.

To kickstart this work, the California Community Foundation, Snap Inc., Evan Spiegel, and Bobby Murphy are committing seed funding ($10M+) to staff the Department of Angels. Many more civic and community leaders have already committed their time, expertise, and resources as well. We hope you’ll join us to help the communities we love recover and rebuild — on their terms. 

Join the Department of Angels HERE.