$180,000 Grant Made to Aid Teen Prostitutes in Hollywood

A $180,000 grant was awarded by the state Thursday to a coalition of Hollywood-area agencies to help runaways and other teen-agers who are being forced into prostitution to earn money.

The grant surprised some activists.

“Frankly, I’m amazed,” Dr. Lois Lee, the founder of a program to aid juvenile prostitutes, told a news conference at Childrens Hospital that was called to announce the award from the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

In the past, she said, many politicians, including some in Sacramento, were reluctant to deal with a problem of an estimated 10,000 homeless youths and runaways on Los Angeles County streets. A shift in the attitude for many came in 1984, after President Reagan recognized the efforts in Hollywood by Lee’s group, Children of the Night, she said.

Social workers familiar with Hollywood’s street youths said that many of them engage in “survival sex,” in which sex is exchanged for an immediate need--a place to sleep, food or drugs.

The grant is designed to deal with exploitation of homeless young people, said the executive director of the justice planning office.

“We need to look at them as victims, not as criminals,” G. Albert Howenstein Jr. said.

The Los Angeles program--administrated by Childrens Hospital--was one of three approved by the state to help homeless youths and runaways. Two other grants of $180,000 were given for similar efforts in San Francisco and San Diego.

Under the local program, called People Against Child Exploitation (PACE), services will be offered to youths primarily in the Hollywood area, where the problem is the toughest. Among the services are a temporary shelter for 250 youths, a telephone hot line, drug counseling and transportation for medical and dental services, officials said.

The program will augment a similar program that has been operated by Childrens Hospital since 1982. It has given medical care to an estimated 12,000 youths, said Dr. Richard G. MacKenzie, head of the hospital’s division of adolescent medicine.

Among the groups taking part in PACE are Children of the Night, Teen Canteen, Angels Flight, L.A. Youth Network, Aviva Respite Center, 1736 Crisis Center and Options House.