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UCLA continued to expand the scope of its support for fire relief and recovery efforts throughout the Los Angeles region today, opening space at its UCLA Research Park property, a site formerly occupied by the Westside Pavilion shopping mall, for use as a disaster recovery center serving impacted residents on the city's west side.
The new recovery center, at the west end of 10850 Pico Blvd., is operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and houses federal, state and local government agencies and nonprofits providing an array of services — from assistance applying for disaster relief loans and accessing mental health resources to help replacing lost or destroyed documents like birth certificates and passports.
The center opened today at 1 p.m. and will be fully operational by Wednesday, Jan. 15, serving the community from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.
"The safety and well-being of the Los Angeles community remains our priority. We are committed to working with first responders and disaster relief agencies to support their work and leverage our resources to support those in need," said UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk. "We have seen the vast challenges that members of our Bruin family and our surrounding community have faced due to the fires, and we are grateful to be supporting FEMA and aiding our neighbors."
The disaster recovery center at the UCLA Research Park is one of two set up in the wake of the fires, with the other located at Pasadena City College. The new site was prepared quickly, in less than two days, by UCLA staff and government workers to house some 70 government agency and nonprofit stations offering support.
In addition to FEMA, the site includes Los Angeles city and county departments and agencies focused on housing, economic development, public health, children and family services, homelessness, disability services, animal services, property taxes and other areas. Among the nonprofits represented are the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Team Rubicon and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation.
