Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1367431
28 funders required reports from their grantees, others did not. This is due to a variety of rea- sons, including the desire of funders to reduce undue burden on "second-responder" CBOs. When asked whether they did their own evaluation, CBO leaders indicated that during relief and recovery chaos, evaluation didn't seem to be the number one priority, but rather, pro- viding fast, effective services took precedent. Much of the evaluation that has been done is necessary for Federal fund reimbursement and is process measure (outputs) oriented. The philanthropic community can work with CBOs and local government to define recovery and resilience outcomes and to incentivize evaluative engagement with those measures. A TALE OF TWO CITIES: PUBLIC SECTOR - COUNTY LEVEL FINDINGS Nine key county agency Directors and Managers from Napa and Sonoma were interviewed about their experiences in fire response. They were asked to describe their agency's in- volvement, their greatest success, greatest challenge, approach to evaluation, partnerships and collaboration, and planning and prevention. Some key disaster response roles that the counties of Napa and Sonoma held included: dissemination of public information and com- munication, leadership and coordination of immediate relief at the EOCs and LACs, tactical building assessment and debris removal, mental and behavioral health and wellness service provision, and leadership on the rebuild effort. Successes Napa and Sonoma County agencies have achieved substantial progress in a variety of rebuild and recovery areas and have also done some work in long-term resilience. All city and county employees are designated as Disaster Service Workers (DSWs) in disaster response. Therefore, it was officially "all hands on deck" for city and county staff immedi- ately after the wildfires. In immediate relief, various agencies played a major role in setting up and managing EOCs and LACs. 19 Permits Sonoma was in charge of the planning section of the EOC. The Director indicated that despite the success of the EOC, there were a lot of learnings. With 775 people working the EOC in Santa Rosa, it was described as overwhelmed, and infrastructure capacity was an issue. The Sonoma Permits Director described the LAC as "incredible". As fire was still burning and encroaching upon the City of Santa Rosa, the City and County joined together to put up the LAC. Although they did not have a history of work- ing together, they came together under one roof and provided a variety of emergency relief services to residents (SSA, DMA, nonprofit services, childcare, snacks, mental health support, etc.). Within 2 to 4 hours, residents who had lost everything could appeal to the LAC for assis- tance and emerge with proof of their SSN, Driver's License, and the start of a rebuild strategy. Although there were some Spanish speakers on site for LEP residents, county employees recognize that the political climate and the Federal employees that guard many service cen- ters (from DHS, FEMA, etc.) made many immigrants fear seeking services; furthermore, many undocumented immigrants would be ineligible for government services altogether. This will be discussed further in the challenges section. In recognition of this failure to meet needs 19 County officials and emergency responders have faced criticisms for some of the decisions and issues that emerged during the fire and immediately after. Lewis, Sukey & Marisa Lagos, "My World Was Burning: The North Bay Fires and What Went Wrong", KQED News, accessed at https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong.