Latchkey Funds for County to Help 7 Other Programs
In addition to Santa Fe Springs, seven other programs in southeast Los Angeles County were notified last week that they will receive a share of the $8 million the state has allocated for latchkey child care.
Bellflower Unified School District received $300,402, the largest grant in the area. Others are Lowell Joint School District, $65,129; Long Beach Unified School District, $136,270; Comprehensive Child Development Inc. in Long Beach, $100,000; South Whittier School District, $97,242; East Whittier City Elementary School District, $39,286, and ABC Unified School District, $45,942.
More than 313 proposals were received statewide asking for almost three times as much money as the state had available, said Robert Cervantes, assistant superintendent of the state Department of Education’s child development division.
There are about 800,000 latchkey children ages 5 to 14 in California, he said. This first set of grants, Cervantes said, represents a major step in helping those children.
“The only regret,” he said, “ is not having the level of funding that matches the need.”
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