L.B. Agencies Get $539,000 in Aid, Reversing Trend

After eight years of urging social service groups to do more with less, the City Council Tuesday awarded $539,000 in 17 grants to local organizations that will help disabled persons, immigrants, the poor and the elderly, and allow mothers to work their way off welfare.

The council, which has contributed to few non-governmental social programs since property taxes were slashed by Proposition 13 in 1978, voted unanimously to raise such city donations to the $750,000 level of eight years ago. City spending for social services peaked in the mid-1970s at about $1.5 million, officials said.

The city is attempting to fill a gap in services that has been exacerbated by sharp cuts in state and federal funds, said Mayor Ernie Kell.

“I think this is a wonderful step in the right direction. . . . But there’s kind of a bottomless well (of need) out there,” he said.

Several grant applicants, including two who received no money, said in interviews that they were relieved that the city has decided to make a larger financial commitment to the area’s needy.

Assistance for Families

A third of the money, $173,000, will be spent on child care for low-income or welfare parents who want job training or employment; about $130,000 will provide in-home care to elderly and disabled persons, and about $86,500 will go to counseling and self-help groups such as the Rape Crisis Hot Line and child-abuse programs.

A Cambodian translator program will receive about $50,000, hospice care for the terminally ill $31,500, emergency housing $25,000 and $43,250 will pay for expanded programs for senior citizens and the disabled.

The awards, however, prompted a strong complaint Tuesday from the National Council on Alcoholism of Long Beach. “I’m shocked that none of these awards addresses substance abuse in a community where it’s so overwhelming a problem,” said Billye Lightner-Hernandez, executive director.

The alcoholism council proposed a $92,175 day-care program for alcoholic women, with care for the women’s children at the same treatment center.

Robert Ward, this area’s representative on the Los Angeles County Commission on Alcoholism, told the City Council he was also dismayed that alcohol and drug abuse was passed over for awards.

In response, representatives from the city Board of Health and Human Services said substance abuse has been addressed indirectly in a number of programs that were funded. And City Manager John Dever said the city already spends more than $1 million a year on substance abuse through the Health Department.

“I can think of a lot of groups I would like to have seen get money,” added Kell. “We’re always going to have people coming in and saying their proposal is the best.”

In-Depth Study

The council--armed with a priority list from an in-depth study of social service needs by the Urban Institute research group of Washington, D.C.--agreed in November to use about $6.65 million from land sales to hospitals to set up an endowment for social programs. That fund will yield between $600,000 and $700,000 a year, depending on interest rates, city officials said.

By late April, the city’s Board of Health and Human Services had received 64 applications for $2.7 million in grants. The board then heard brief presentations from 44 applicants who qualified for consideration and recommended the 17 awards totaling $539,405. Another $90,000 was left in a reserve to supplement the 17 awards and to be used in emergency requests.

Fourteen of the 27 unsuccessful applicants filed appeals, but only six appeared for a hearing 10 days ago. Those six were Catholic Social Service, Public Corporation for the Arts, Family Shelter for the Homeless, Interfaith Action for Aging, and Federation of Filipino-American Assns., Inc., and Clinic Project Best at California State University, Long Beach.

While some dispute has arisen, Kell said there has been “a minimum of sour grapes” from unsuccessful applicants. Indeed, some applicants, though disappointed in not receiving awards, said they had no complaints about the selection process.

‘We Were Treated Fairly’

Richard Langevin, executive director of Catholic Social Service in Long Beach, said his requests for funds for a family shelter and to assist senior citizens in their homes were denied. “But we feel we were treated very fairly,” he said. “We need to do a little better with our homework. Do a little bit more politicking.”

Probably the most successful applicant was United Cambodian Community Inc., which received grants totaling $107,708 for child-care and translation services.

“The city is starting to respond to the need of a new community,” said Than Pok, the group’s executive director. “We have been here for a long time, but this is the first time the city has provided this kind of funding.”

There was some disappointment, however, even among some agencies that received awards.

Donald Westerland, executive director of Family Service of Long Beach, said that just this month his organization lost a $120,000-a-year state grant that had provided homemaker services to the frail elderly, and he had hoped for $141,000 from the city to make up for the loss. Instead, his group will receive $68,750, the largest single grants.

“I’m very disappointed in the amount,” Westerland said. “I think it’s a tragic mistake. . . . We serve only the people that are most likely to be placed in nursing homes without our care. Without this type of assistance, they’ll be in nursing homes in three months.”

1,200 on Waiting List

His program, said Westerland, provides home care for about 250 frail elderly, and it has a waiting list of 1,200. The recent cut reduced the program’s hours of service by about 40%, he said.

Westerland said a $61,000 grant for home care to Visiting Nurse Service of Long Beach will make up some of the shortfall. But that program provides care for persons of all ages, not just the elderly, he said.

Grants were given in accordance with needs identified by the Urban Institute study and reinforced in three public hearings before a City Council committee.

Given top consideration by the board were applications for child-care and homemaker services, counseling and education programs and intervention services such as community hot lines. Also receiving priority were applicants who proposed recreation and cultural programs for special groups.

Looked for 3 Factors

In interviewing applicants, the Board of Health and Human Services looked for three main things: an ability to keep administrative costs less than 10% of the grant; a local track record; and a bookkeeping system up to city standards, said Richard Harris, the board’s staff adviser.

Harris said he expects the board to award grants to more agencies in the next go-around, which should be completed in the fall.

Grant recipients this time are:

- Long Beach Community Improvement League, $57,667 for a central-city child-care program for families that receive public Aid For Dependent Children. The mothers would have to work or attend job training programs to qualify. Grant would assist about 18 mothers.

- United Cambodian Community, Inc., $57,667 for a child-care program in the central city. It will assist low-income families, especially recent immigrants receiving job training or seeking employment. About 25 will be helped.

- Children’s Home Society of California, $57,667 for a child-care program for low-income families throughout Long Beach.

- Visiting Nurse Service of Long Beach, $61,000 for a homemaker program to temporarily help low-income people of all ages with housework and personal needs.

- Family Service of Long Beach, $68,750 to provide permanent homemaker services to the frail elderly who want to stay out of nursing homes.

- Helpline Youth Counseling, Inc., $12,000 to provide counseling to 125 youngsters, ages 8 through 18, identified as “high risk” by juvenile authorities.

- Disabled Resources Center, Inc., $12,500 to provide peer counseling for disabled persons who want to live independently.

- Sarah House Center Inc., $16,300 to provide treatment for non-English-speaking Latino families with a child who has been sexually molested.

- The Children’s Clinic, $18,000 for early identification of child abuse, instruction in parenting skills, and counseling to reduce abuse.

- Rape Hotline of Long Beach, Inc., $18,360 to provide 24-hour crisis service for assault victims, and to provide medical, legal and psychological referrals.

- Cedar House Inc., $9,365 for a child-abuse prevention and treatment program that will focus primarily on out-of-home sexual molestation.

- Long Beach Jewish Community Center Inc., $4,000 for a retired senior volunteer program that recruits and places the elderly in public, nonprofit agencies.

- Long Beach Parks and Recreation Department, $15,000 to extend programs and services for 14,000 senior citizens at Houghton Park in North Long Beach.

- Long Beach Parks and Recreation Department, $24,250 to extend activities for the disabled to about 20 additional locations throughout the city.

- United Cambodian Community Inc., $50,113 to provide translation and interpretation services to Southeast Asian refugees.

- Travelers Aid Society, $25,267, to assist persons, including the disabled, who are unable to find affordable and accessible housing.

- Visiting Nurse Service of Long Beach, $31,500 for a hospice service for the low-income terminally ill.

Times community correspondent Sue Corrales contributed to this story.