We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For

In this inspiring panel on Community-Led Resilience, Kasey Earnest, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu, moderates a powerful conversation with Nicole Huguenin, a generosity entrepreneur from Maui, and architect David Hertz of the LA County Fire Brigade. Together, they share how grassroots care networks, community brigades, and local leadership are transforming disaster response and recovery. From trauma-informed care to fire-adapted architecture, this session highlights how collective action, empathy, and trust build the foundation for stronger, more resilient communities.

Kasey Earnest
Kasey Earnest has been the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu for over 20 years. Under her leadership, the club has grown into a vital community institution, operating three after-school Clubhouses and three school-based Wellness Centers. Today, the club serves over 1,200 youth annually and provides social services and outreach to more than 3,000 individuals. The Boys and Girls Club has become a leader in innovative, community-based school partnerships—delivering no-cost psychoeducation, licensed mental health counseling, and trauma-informed care to Malibu public school students, their families, and survivors of the 2018 Woolsey Fire, as well as the 2024 Franklin and 2025 Palisades Fires. Following the 2018 Woolsey Fire, Earnest led the creation of the Malibu Emergency Relief Fund, which raised and distributed more than $2 million in aid to individuals, families, and local workers. This year, Earnest and her team once again activated their Disaster Relief Center and re-established the Emergency Relief Fund. To date, this second wave of relief efforts has supported over 4,000 visits from fire survivors across Malibu, Topanga, and the Palisades; distributed more than$2 million in donated goods to over 2,000 individuals; and completed a comprehensive trauma-informed care intake process for over 500 cases. In June, the Community Long-Term Recovery Group was officially formed. Thanks to Kasey’s trauma-informed vision, case management infrastructure, and commitment to long-term recovery, BGCM remains the only community-based organization on the Westside of Los Angeles recognized by FEMA, Cal OES, and the American Red Cross for long-term disaster relief and case management services.

Nicole Huguenin 
Nicole Huguenin is a conduit for caring and community. In 2015, she helped found two alternative economy-based organizations, Dream Together Crew and Walk2Connect Coop. Based off those profound experiences coupled with more than 15 years in nonprofits and teaching, she has dedicated her life to creating resilient and caring communities. Based in Maui, HI, her current projects include Share Circle that connects the dots of circular waste practices and Maui Rapid Response, a civic response organization modeled after mutual aid and the Hawaiian ahupua’a system. Her work as a generosity entrepreneur is financially Supported on Patreon and/or by sharing aloha on Exchange Ave.

David Hertz
David Hertz brings over four decades of expertise in wildfire resilience and fire-adapted architecture across Southern California. David is co-founder of the LA County Fire Community Brigade Division7 and a board member of the Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Foundation 501 that runs the Community Brigade program. David has been deeply involved in on-the-ground fire defense efforts and fought in the Franklin and Palisades Fires. As an architect, Hertz has overseen fire rebuilds after major wildfires. His Malibu ranch withstood the Woolsey Fire thanks to proactive measures like flame-retardant coatings, water storage systems, external fire sprinklers and ember-resistant landscaping and defensive measures. These strategies and systems have informed his integrated approach: designing homes with ember-resistant materials, passive fire protection, regenerative systems, and community-focused resilience.