MOORPARK : 6 of 21 Groups Get $27,650 in Grants

After public service agencies throughout Ventura County asked for a share of Moorpark’s $27,650 in Community Development Block Grant money, the City Council has decided to keep the money close to home.

Twenty-one groups submitted requests totaling about three times the available funds. But the council voted unanimously Wednesday to award the money to six groups serving Moorpark residents; the groups have all received block grant funds in the past.

Five agencies will receive the same amount of funds they received last year. Only one, the Channel Counties Legal Services Assn., will receive an increase. The association, which provided legal services for about 100 Moorpark residents last year, will receive $4,212.57, up from $3,650 last year.

Moorpark’s Senior Nutrition program, which serves hot lunches to 87 low-income senior citizens daily, will receive $10,000, the largest grant awarded.

The local Catholic Charities office, which operates a food pantry, will receive $7,500.

The Ventura County Library Service Agency’s program for teaching adults to read English will receive $5,000. A $1,000 grant will go to an organization providing legal help to ill elderly people, and $500 will go to the county’s Homeless Ombudsman.

Moorpark also annually receives additional block grant funds restricted to affordable housing projects or improvements to streets or other public facilities. The city received $114,457 for long-planned improvements to sidewalks, gutters and curbs along Charles Street, and $25,000 to go toward a fund for purchasing land for affordable housing.