Listen

During the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025, Amplifi was called upon by local philanthropy, the Mayor of Los Angeles, and the State of California to stand up a site with resources for Angelenos. Amplifi was engaged in this effort based on both the success of its Benefit Navigator, and nearly two decades as a trusted nonprofit community partner. Amplif created the LA Disaster Relief Navigator in partnership with Better Angels, a simple website to help residents find the recovery resources they need in one place. The site launched shortly after the wildfires started and gave nearly 7,000 Angelenos a sense of direction in a moment when everything felt uncertain.

CivicMakers partnered with Amplifi to explore how the tool might become even more helpful, human-centered and trauma-informed in the first 45 days after a disaster, and how it could scale to support other communities facing their own emergencies. When the team asked us to conduct an in-depth stakeholder assessment on the impact of the Disaster Navigator, we were excited to partner with an organization that understands the value of building trust first, and technology second.

Our findings from interviews detailed why a tool like the Disaster Navigator is important for survivors: helping to move from overwhelm to clarity, even amid ongoing uncertainty; from scattered and confusing resources to one trusted hub; and being able to provide up-to-date resources to face new challenges at different points in the recovery process.

Learn

We started by learning from the people who know disaster recovery best: community partners, support providers, and survivors themselves. We reviewed previous research and looked closely at other resource tools to understand what helps people find and trust information in challenging situations.

We developed our research questions:

• What makes a disaster recovery site feel trustworthy, usable, and trauma informed?
• How can the Disaster Navigator better support people in the first 45 days of a disaster?
• How should the tool scale to other disaster types, geographies, and partner organizations?

Along the way, we co-created and vetted four guiding principles for how the Disaster Navigator should feel and function: Trustworthy, Quality Information, User Friendly, and Fast & Actionable.

These ideas became the foundation for improving the current site and imagining future versions could offer. With these guiding principles, we sought to help Amplifi answer the question:

Could this tool be ready to launch within 24-48 hours of any disaster, anywhere, to guide survivors through the first 30-45 days of a crisis?

Make

From those principles, we worked with Amplifi to outline a path toward a Disaster Navigator 2.0 – one that’s clearer, more welcoming, and ready to adapt to different types of disasters and communities.

The version of the site focuses on four simple goals:

1. 1. Stronger First Impressions
   2. Easier Guidance and Navigation
   3. More Actionable Resources
   4. More Updates and Community Connections

Together, these changes could create an even more supportive experience where people can easily find what they need, understand what to do next, and feel supported during the early steps of recovery.

Next Steps

Amplifi is currently working on a redesigned platform for equitable disaster recovery, based on extensive feedback from survivors and stakeholders through this process. Since the project was undertaken, Amplifi launched its official rebrand and received commendation from the Los Angeles City Mayor’s Office. Our team is thrilled to be a trusted partner under Amplifi’s Innovation Lab, and we look forward to future collaborations!