Jodi House Brain Injury Support Center Receives $437,500 Grant from State

The Jodi House Brain Injury Support Center has received a $437,500 grant from the California Department of Rehabilitation, which will allow the organization to expand online and increase accessibility to Spanish-speaking brain-injury survivors. 

Jodi House is one of six entities to be awarded this year with the DOR grant and is the only organization in Santa Barbara County exclusively providing support services to brain-injury survivors.

“For 40 years, Jodi House has been helping brain-injury survivors in the tri counties reintegrate into our community at the highest level of functioning possible,” said Lindsey Black, Jodi House executive director. 

Under this grant, Jodi House will continue to build upon the online program platform it launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and will introduce Spanish-speaking support groups and classes in independent-living skills.

Jodi House was founded in 1982 by the family of Jodi Wustman, after Jodi sustained a traumatic brain injury upon being hit by a drunk driver. Jodi’s family, alongside the families of other TBI survivors, were successful in creating a resource and support network for adults with brain injuries where none had existed before. 

“We often receive requests for assistance from survivors and their families outside of the tri counties who are unable to find a program like Jodi House in their communities,” Black said. “This grant will dramatically improve our ability to reach survivors and caregivers, regardless of geography, by expanding our online classes and services.”

CORRECTION: This story was updated on 11/8/21 to correct two factual inaccuracies in the second paragraph.

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