Butte Strong Fund awards $500,000 grant to Rebuild Paradise Foundation
A Butte Strong Fund grant of $500,000 will provide help for low-income and middle-income households seeking to build homes in the Camp Fire footprint.
The grant was awarded to the Rebuild Paradise Foundation by the Butte Strong Fund citizens committee. Rebuild
Paradise manages the Missing Middle Building Assistance Grant, previously funded by the Butte Strong Fund. The grant renewal extends the program.
The Missing Middle grant was launched in February 2020 and has awarded more than $900,000 to 267 households throughout the Camp Fire footprint. The grant was established to help with the significant cost of rebuilding before construction can even begin.this includes the cost of property surveying, architectural and engineering fees, and water expenses like well testing and repairs.
All of these preconstruction expenses can easily cost a homeowner more than $20,000.
People who are rebuilding can qualify for a grant of up to $5,000, depending on income.
Rebuild Paradise has provided financial help for 9.4% of the 2,851 rebuilding permits approved by the town and county in the
Camp Fire area.
An earlier grant of $875,000 from the Butte Strong Fund allows the Rebuild Paradise Foundation to provide grants to individuals who need help with septic system repairs.
For more information on the Missing Middle grant and how to apply, go to www.rebuildparadise.org/ grants.
The Butte Strong Fund is a partnership of fundraising efforts led by North Valley Community Foundation, Sierra Nevada Brewing
Co. and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
With this month’s grants totaling $782,378, NVCF has awarded $52,970,455 for community recovery since the Camp Fire on
Nov. 8, 2018.
Other recent Butte Strong Fund grants awarded include:
$50,000 to Achieve Charter School of Paradise to fund a crisis counselor and a consultant for the Balanced Brain Project after school program. The grant will help continue two valuable programs at Achieve that have had an extremely positive impact on students and staff.
Crisis counseling supports the entire school with self-regulation strategies, classroom conflict management and individual counseling during the school day. The Balanced Brain Project utilizes creativity, self-awareness practices and enriching activities to support trauma recovery.
$50,000 to the CSU, Chico Ecological Reserves for its Ecotherapy for Community Resilience project. The funding will provide at least 750 individuals with professionally guided forest therapy experiences. These experiences will take place in a variety of local, natural environments, including the university’s ecological reserves,
Paradise Recreation and Park District locations and Bidwell Park.
$50,000 to Magalia Community Park, which will fund one year of rent and staffing for the 40-acre park. Magalia Community Park is an outdoor venue for multiple activities to enhance the life of those in the region and the county. The park offers a disc golf course, a venue for exercise, a community meeting space, paved trails and youth programs.
$47,478 for All Hands and Hearts to support volunteers working on housing, especially home hardening projects. The grant provides help with food, housing and training costs for volunteers, funding for a commercial contractor and vehicle rental. The overall goal of All Hands and Heart’s Wildfire Relief Program is to provide a well-managed labor force to support locally conceived projects. Home hardening is a strategy that goes hand-inhand with defensible space creation to mitigate the risk of wildfire damage to people and property. Home hardening differs from defensible space creation in that it involves techniques and materials that are directly applied to the structure of the home itself, not the landscape.
$30,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of the North Valley to help remodel and re-establish the Teen Center on Skyway in downtown Paradise. The grant funds project management and consulting services for the remodeling.
$49,900 to the Butte County Local Food Network to continue its Marketmobile program.
The Marketmobile brings fresh local produce to the Camp Fire footprint.
$5,000 to the Basket Brigade Support Fund, plus an additional $5,000 from the Aaron Rodgers Norcal Fire Recovery Fund at NVCF. The support will help the Basket Brigade provide 100 Thanksgiving meal baskets for Butte County residents impacted by the Camp Fire.
Organizations interested in applying for Butte Strong Fund grants can visit nvcf. org/buttestrongfund to determine if they qualify for funding. Donations to the fund can also be made on the web page.