HUNTINGTON BEACH : Single-Parent Aid Program to Change

To continue a single-parents aid program while slashing its funding, the City Council last week agreed to restructure the program’s management.

Although council members recently cut annual funding for Project Self-Sufficiency from $85,000 to $35,000, the city will retain the program’s two staff members during 1991-92.

As recommended by Community Services Director Ron Hagan, the city will hire the program coordinator and an assistant to oversee an array of city-sponsored community events in addition to their current duties with Project Self-Sufficiency. In exchange, part of their salaries will be paid from the city’s general fund.

Project Self-Sufficiency, a 5-year-old program that helps 136 low-income single parents pursue college careers or enter new jobs while meeting their everyday needs and expenses, has been threatened by the recent elimination of federal funding. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which had supported the program’s entire budget each year, rescinded its funding in January after restructuring its criteria for awarding grants.

To keep Project Self-Sufficiency afloat through June 30--the end of the current fiscal year--council members agreed to allocate $35,000 of the city’s $200,000 annual social services budget for the program.

Beginning in July, the city will spend $50,000 in general fund contributions to cover the balance of the employees’ salaries. The two workers, while overseeing the project, will also begin coordinating a fishing derby, a day camp for handicapped children, a community beach-cleanup effort and other annual events. The city will not be filling vacant positions related to those programs, freeing up the money to help fund Project Self-Sufficiency, Hagan said.

The program’s two workers will have time for their new duties because its fund-raising efforts will be taken over by a 21-member volunteer task force, Hagan said. The project typically collects about $500,000 a year in food, clothing, day-care services, college tuition grants and other donations for its clients, he said.

Council members will review the program’s restructuring a year from now to determine if it has worked, Hagan said.