The current wildfires are affecting tens of thousands of northern Californians, forcing widespread evacuations, burning homes and structures, causing air pollution, and disrupting the fragile livelihoods of people and communities already responding to COVID-19. How can you be most effective in this moment? What can you learn from your peers?
Join us to:
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Hear funder responses to local challenges, especially for their most vulnerable neighbors
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Understand how communities are addressing immediate and potential long-term challenges as wildfires and COVID-19 collide
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Learn about opportunities to support immediate and long-term community responses to the wildfires
Abby Browning, Chief, Office of Private Sector/NGO Coordination, Office of Emergency Services
Abby Browning is the Chief of the Office of Private Sector/ Non-Governmental Organization Coordination at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Abby is responsible for developing and maintaining CalOES’s relationships with business, associations, companies, and universities, as well as nonprofit, nongovernmental and philanthropic organizations.
Prior to joining CalOES, Abby was the Special Advisor for International Trade in the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. She was an essential member of the Brown Administration’s international team, working on trade missions to China and Mexico, as well as fostering countless other international business connections for California.
Abby has also worked with the California Chamber of Commerce in the International Affairs and Corporate Relations departments, as well as the California Seismic Safety Commission. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from West Virginia University and she earned an M.A. from the School of Government at California State University, Sacramento.
Kathleen Kelly Janus, Senior Advisor on Social Innovation, Office of Governor Newsom
Kathleen Kelly Janus is the newly appointed senior advisor on social innovation in the Office of Governor Newsom. This new position elevates the role of philanthropic and nonprofit organizations as innovators. Janus was a lecturer at Stanford University’s Program on Social Entrepreneurship from 2013 to 2019 and was a teaching fellow at Stanford Law School from 2007 to 2012. She worked as pro bono counsel at Covington & Burling from 2009 to 2013 and was an associate at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP from 2003 to 2007. She co-founded Spark in 2005. Janus earned a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Alan Kwok, Director, Disaster Resilience, Northern California Grantmakers
Alan seeks to strengthen and galvanize the philanthropy sector in California around investments in community-based disaster resilience. He brings to his role a wealth of experiences in community health, youth and workforce development, and disaster management. He managed a FEMA award-winning community resilience initiative in the Bay Area American Red Cross and continues to research on community disaster resilience. He earned his PhD in emergency management at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research (JCDR) at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand. His research is published in World Bank.
Northern California Response
To learn more about the current wildfires please go to our Wildfire Response page here.