Local News in Brief : Fund Drive for Skid Row

A three-day campaign to raise $100,000 for five Skid Row agencies will begin today with the distribution of 275,000 specially marked envelopes to businesses and government agencies in the Los Angeles Civic Center.

Organizers of this first-time Dollars for Downtown campaign said the owners of 32 downtown office buildings, including the Wells Fargo Tower, the Arco Towers, Citicorp Plaza, the First Interstate Bank skyscraper and the Biltmore Tower, have agreed to give the envelopes to their tenants.

The money raised will be divided among five agencies: the Downtown Women’s Center; Los Angeles Men’s Place, Las Familias del Pueblo, the 9th Street School Foundation and the Chrysalis Center.

The effort may be repeated next year if it is successful.