FOUNTAIN VALLEY : 17 Groups Awarded $48,900 in Grants

The City Council this week awarded $48,900 in federal block grants to 17 community organizations that serve Fountain Valley residents.

The grants range from $1,500 to $4,200. The largest grant--$4,200--was given to the Community Services Program, a youth program that works with the Police Department to help adolescents in trouble.

Grants of $3,500 went to the Women’s Transitional Living Center, a shelter for battered women and their children, and to the Thomas House Temporary Shelter for homeless families.

The Fountain Valley School District’s Extended School Program, a campus-based service that provides before- and after-school child care, received $3,000.

The city received $326,000 in federal block grant money this year, but federal rules permit only 15% of that to be distributed to service groups.

The remaining $277,100, said HCD administrative assistant Lauren Sacco, will go to rehabilitate housing for low- and moderate-income residents and to pay for the enforcement of housing codes.

The money will also be used to purchase property for low-income housing, Sacco said. One such site is the former Petrolane Gas Services facility on Heil Avenue that was purchased last year. The city is now moving to develop that property into housing low-income senior citizens, the handicapped and other people in need of affordable housing.