Funds Awarded by Great Western

Great Western Financial Corp. has awarded a total of $125,000 to two Southland organizations for their efforts to provide affordable housing for low-income people.

The Watts Labor Community Action Committee plans to use the $75,000 it received to complete the renovation of a family housing shelter in South-Central Los Angeles. The Westminster Neighborhood Assn. will use its $50,000 gift to manage a 130-unit apartment complex it is building and to plan additional housing developments in Watts and surrounding areas.

The contributions are part of Great Western’s annual Leslie N. Shaw Sr. Memorial Awards, named after the man who served as the company’s vice president and director of community development for 16 years. Another grant of $75,000 was made to the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition in Palo Alto, which is working to preserve federally subsidized housing.