GARDEN GROVE : Council to Evaluate Child-Care Proposal

Redevelopment funds--commonly used to help build shopping centers and subsidize low- and moderate-income housing--might be spent to help launch an ambitious new child-care program in Garden Grove.

This week, the City Council, acting as the Agency for Community Development, voted unanimously to study a proposal by the Girls Club of Garden Grove for an expanded Kids Club program. The program eventually could put 50 or more inexpensive day-care centers on school sites throughout the city to provide supervision and recreation after school hours.

Pat Halberstadt, Girls Club executive director, told the council that the $20,000 requested by her group would be “seed money” to organize a citywide program, based on a model facility soon to open at Stanford Elementary School, 12721 Magnolia Ave.

At Stanford, the Garden Grove Unified School District has agreed to lease property for $1 a year to accommodate two modular buildings for the program. Most of the $327,000 for the Stanford facility came from state grants, with $21,000 donated by the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Assn.

“We could put those on every school campus in Garden Grove,” said Halberstadt. Each Kids Club facility would provide space for 50 to 75 boys and girls who are 5 to 12 years old, she said. The redevelopment agency money would go to pay staff to develop grant proposals and other administrative tasks associated with expanding the program, she added.