Los Angeles is my hometown. Ten days after the fires began, TIME published my essay on how the city can recover.
The wildfires are not just a natural disaster. They are a multi-faceted crisis: service workers losing their income overnight, a cost of living that was already out of reach, and families losing the independence they had worked for. The first job is to keep survivors from making desperate financial decisions, through housing help, volunteer expertise and free financial counseling.
The longer job is bigger. Recovery isn’t something we achieve in isolation. It takes neighbors, communities and institutions coming together, and it will take years.
Source: TIME, January 18, 2025.
