The State of California is no stranger to the harsh reality of wildfire and other natural disasters. Far too often, the people and communities hit hardest by these disasters are those often missing or left out of preparedness activities and least equipped to deal with them and their lasting impacts.

Governor Newsom and state lawmakers together invested $50 million through urgency legislation (AB 72) to establish the California for All Emergency Preparedness Campaign, which is now called Listos California. Our campaign aims to boost disaster preparedness among our diverse and vulnerable Californians by connecting them to culturally and linguistically competent support through a grass-roots, people-centered approach. The campaign is anchored at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and led by architect and co-chair Karen Baker and co-chair Justin Knighten.

To ensure success, the campaign empowers and engages local communities on emergency preparedness to support California's diverse and vulnerable populations, which can be described by social vulnerability factors including social isolation, poverty, language barriers, and other access and functional needs challenges.

On Tuesday, August 20, a press release issued by the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom officially kicked off Listos California, which included a full list of all campaign grantee partners. Our trusted and effective partners include community-based organizations, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) programs, the 8-hour training program in English and Spanish called “Listos,” AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps NCCC, Fire Safe Councils, and others.