Helping our community rebound from natural disasters with resilience.
Community Resilience
A peninsula located in the semi-tropical Atlantic Basin, Florida's geography and climate increase the state's susceptibility to natural storms, yet for many years, the suncoast has remained resilient to such storms relative to other coastal regions around the state.
As natural hazards become more prevalent and intense, so too has our region's vulnerability to weather-related risks. In 2023, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released its environmental hazard risk data, which analyzes social factors, infrastructure, economic components and environmental characteristics to measure community resilience.
The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund is a local resource for the long-term, ongoing needs that emerge over time, so communities can heal holistically after a catastrophic weather event.
The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund was activated days before Hurricane Ian's historic landfall in 2022, as a dangerous, high-end Category 4 storm. Ian throttled swaths of the four-county region our Community Foundation serves, with high winds, heavy rainfall, and a staggering storm surge that caused flooding throughout the region.
While relief efforts immediately enabled impacted communities to function with relative normalcy, ongoing needs would remain for years, some only becoming apparent over time. These unmet needs are the focus of the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, which prioritizes the following:
- Case Management
- Children & Youth Services/Education
- Home Repair and Housing Needs
- Legal Services
- Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG) and COAD support
- Mental and Behavioral Health
Grant Opportunity
Currently, we are accepting applications for recovery from Hurricane Ian. Community needs for other environmental hazards are currently being assessed, and grant opportunities for more recent storms will be announced on this site.
If you have an Ian-related project, please click below to learn more about funds available for hurricane recovery.
Successful recovery supports individuals and families' ability to rebound from their losses and sustain their well-being, and restore structures, systems, and services.
The purpose of the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund is to support and benefit Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto and Charlotte Counties for disaster recovery to improve individual, family, and community resiliency, helping people rebuild their lives beyond initial rebuilding of structures. Complete recovery--restoring our community to its full potential, while also creating processes to better protect us from such catastrophe in the future--takes a strategic, collaborative effort over time.
Successful recovery supports individuals and families' rebound from losses, with an emphasis on sustaining their physical, social, economic, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Long-term recovery restores structures, systems, and services, addressing sources of inequitable outcomes.
Recovery involves listening to those most impacted with losses, understanding community needs, and assessing community damage. It is achieved through collaboration with government and school officials, funders, community leaders and nonprofit partners.
In 2022, our foundation published Disaster Response Analysis, which examines the anatomy of the disaster life cycle, history of disaster and response, identification of conventional responders and supports, typical gaps in those supports, and more. A strategic approach depends upon patience, transparent communication and collaboration, thorough research, and the willingness to be flexible. Thoughtful and deliberate recovery takes time to implement, and it also stands the test of time.
Stories of Impact: Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund
The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund investments have been made to restore vital programs, repair houses and replace appliances of those living at the economic edge, connect people with resources, and make mental health counseling accessible. Read here about the contributions made over time.
August 28, 2024
Community Foundation of Sarasota County Awards $475,000 to Support Continued Hurricane Ian Recovery
Grants address ongoing long-term efforts to restore stability in Sarasota, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties SARASOTA, FL – As the second anniversary of Hurricane Ian approaches, the Comm…
July 18, 2024
New Stars Academy to brighten childcare options
Day care center created after Hurricane Ian's damage to assist community need PORT CHARLOTTE--Maria Guerrero knew she could lead a new day care center after Hurricane Ian, especially after exp…
July 1, 2024
Help for a Rainy Day
With the official start of summer, headlines abound with warnings of an especially active hurricane season, leaving many in our community bracing for uncertainty in the coming months. We ent…
Impact to Nonprofits
After the first grant cycle went out in 2023 to organizations affected by Hurricane Ian, we reached out to some nonprofit leaders to learn how the funding restored their ability to achieve their missions. See the video series below to learn more about the ways the grant supported our community on its path to longterm recovery.
Child Protection Center
A vital resource to families living in crisis from the experience of abuse, the Child Protection Center sustained damage to its Northport location. Learn how the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund helped the Child Protection Center restore its services to families served in the hard-hit area.
Lighthouse Vision Loss Education Center
Hurricane Ian ripped through the Lighthouse headquarters, resulting in damages so severe the organization had to move operations elsewhere temporarily. Funding from the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund will help the organization open its doors again.
United Way Charlotte County
Charlotte County endured enormous Hurricane Ian damage, leaving many with unanticipated expenses that made them vulnerable to losing everything. United Way was there to connect these people with resources that keeps them sheltered, secure, and healthy.
Samaritan Counseling Services of the Gulf Coast
Trauma from catastrophic events like Ian can take months to surface and years to heal. Grants to Samaritan helped the organization offer affordable services to more people in the throes of a mental health crisis.
Hurricane Ian flooded the house of Kayla Yenna, here with her daughters, forcing her to find a new place to live. Photo: Mike Lang, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Of course, a disaster like Ian also requires immediate response. Many people have endured damage to their homes and faced disruptions in work, which has forced them to navigate the double-crisis of unanticipated expenses coupled with diminished income. Our region has experienced a seismic uptick in those needing help with basic living expenses, such as rent or mortgage, utilities, transportation, and child care.
For these acute needs, Season of Sharing has been a relied upon source of relief for 22 years. Some who have been displaced have already sought Season of Sharing support--its flexibility and expeditious nature have made it a time-tested, trusted social safety net since 2000. In the wake of Ian, acute need is high. Season of Sharing has helped people get past immediate setbacks to regain stability for more than two decades.
The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund was created in partnership with The Patterson Foundation, which seeded the fund with $500,000 and offered matching gifts up to $750,000, which was quickly fulfilled and inspired other matching gifts for a total of $1.25 million. Learn more about The Patterson Foundation.
The Patterson Foundation strengthens the impact through seed money and matching funds.
How to Donate
If you'd like to support either the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund or the Season of Sharing, there are many ways to do it. Donate online here.
Donate by Mail
Mail your check – payable to Community Foundation of Sarasota County (please indicate county designation on memo line) – to:
Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund
c/o Community Foundation of Sarasota County
2635 Fruitville Road
Sarasota, FL 34237
Donate by Phone
Call 941-955-3000