A Disaster Recovery Center is now open in both North and South Santa Barbara County to provide resources to residents who were impacted by this month's storms.
The Disaster Recovery Center is a partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Governor's Office of Emergency Sservices, the County of Santa Barbara and several local cities.
The centers are located at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria and Direct Relief in Santa Barbara.
Residents can get help applying for federal assistance and disaster loans, update applications and learn about other available resources.
Spanish, ASL, and Mixteco interpreter services will be available.
"One of the things that I know some of our residents are starting to get are what unfortunately might be labeled as denial letters," said Kelly Hubbard, Director of Office of Emergency Management of Santa Barbara.
"One of the things I'd like to encourage our residents is often those aren't just your done denied. What it actually often is, is we might be missing information for you. We might have a gap of information. We might be referring that FEMA or SBA might be referring you to other programs. And so we really want to encourage residents not to look at that denial letter and go, oh, I'm just denied. Look at the details below. Look into more information. And if you're not sure, come over here and ask the people who are going to be able to help you with that," Hubbard said.
Both locations will be open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., for a minimum of two weeks.
