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One year has passed since the devastating wildfires across Southern California. Recovery, I’ve learned, does not happen on a predictable timeline; it is a slow, uneven and deeply human process. For thousands of child care providers across Los Angeles, this was an arduous journey with unique challenges — and it remains far from over. 

Los Angeles has been defined by resilience. The city rebuilds after earthquakes, floods and fires, fueled by mutual aid, creativity, and an unwavering civic responsibility. But resilience takes more than grit, it takes funding, infrastructure and durable systems. 

Working alongside child care providers impacted by the fires, I’ve seen both the power of communities and the fragility of systems meant to support them. If there’s one lesson to be learned, it’s that the best means of supporting child care infrastructure is taking time to listen to providers themselves. They care for our children; it’s about time our community cares about them.

Child care is an invisible workforce until it disappears. When the fires swept through last January, over 1,000 licensed child-care spaces vanished. Families lost trusted caregivers and providers lost more than businesses — they lost homes, memories and livelihoods built over decades. What became painfully clear is that the system still treats child care like an afterthought. 

In the fires’ immediate aftermath, the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) created LA RISE, which stands for Recovery and Investment in Service of ECE. We teamed up with private funders to support recovery and restore essential capacity. The goal was simple in theory, but complex in practice: support providers by helping them stabilize, recover and remain part of the communities they have served for years. We deployed disaster recovery grants that could be used flexibly for construction, cleaning, fire mitigation upgrades, rent or mortgage payments, mental health supports and basic business restart costs. 

This initiative  — supported by The Ballmer Group via LA Partnership for Early Childhood Investment, the Heising-Simons Foundation, FireAid, the California Community Foundation and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation — distributed $1 million to help providers get back on their feet. That funding mattered, but it is a bridge not a solution. 

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An often overlooked subset of providers are based at home. Their homes are their businesses, their workplaces and their community’s anchor. Losing their business doesn’t just erase a roof for their family — it erases a classroom, a paycheck and a neighborhood’s access to care. Many serve the same community for decades but are among the least protected from disasters, often lacking adequate insurance, capital access or the ability to relocate without uprooting their lives and the families who depend on them.

Felisa Wright opened her home-based center in 2009 and cared for 14 children, but struggled to find a new place to live after last year’s wildfires because of her business, a common experience for home-based providers. “Owners do not want to rent to me [when] I say I have an in-home day care. They say it’s too much responsibility, too much of a liability,” she told The 74.

To support providers like Felisa, the greatest lesson we learned was simply to listen.  LA RISE pivoted to a community-centered approach with providers driving how their recovery funds are spent. They taught us that basic survival needs like rent, safety and attending to mental health needs must come before rebuilding. Recovery, we learned, is not one size fits all. It is emotional and deeply tied to community. 

Watching Angelenos show up for each other made this work especially meaningful. Neighbors checked on neighbors, philanthropy mobilized, community organizations coordinated resources and care networks supported one another. It made me immensely proud of my city, but pride and gratitude without meaningful action isn’t enough. 

As extreme weather becomes more frequent and severe, California must treat child care as critical climate infrastructure.  Cities across the state need sustained, proactive investment in resilient facilities: safer buildings, better fire mitigation, access to affordable insurance and financing that recognizes the realities of home-based and community-based providers. Our communities need policies that align affordable housing and child care so providers aren’t forced out of the neighborhoods they sustain.

Gov. Gavin Newsom recognized this by including much-needed disaster relief for child care in his budget proposal, an effort that ought to be replicated at the municipal and federal levels. Disaster recovery systems must prioritize child care from day one. 

When child care survives, neighborhoods recover faster, parents and caregivers return to work, children regain stability and communities heal. LA is accustomed to reinventing itself in the face of adversity. Now is our opportunity to reinvent again by building something stronger than the fragile systems in place before. Investing in child care is an investment in resilience and our collective future. Angelenos deserve nothing less.

Vanessa Macias is director for Early Care and Education in California at the Low Income Investment Fund.