Tustin : Council to Decide on Funding Requests

Twenty-one nonprofit community groups have applied for financial assistance from the city, but only about half of the requests are expected to be approved by the City Council at its meeting Monday.

The groups’ requests total $158,000. But city officials said that only $30,000 is available and a task force recommended that it be divided among 12 of the applicants, including youth groups, senior care programs and child abuse centers.

“We were surprised that the requests were so high,” said Julie E. Carter, an administrative assistant who participated in the funding review process. “It was real difficult because how do you compare the Boys Scouts . . . to the Laurel House? All the groups are worthy of funding.”

Last year, the city was faced with funding requests from 13 organizations totaling just under $75,000, according to city records. Tustin officials have earmarked about $30,000 for nonprofit group assistance for the last few years.

Recommendations for disbursing the money were made by city staff as well as the Non-Profit Assistance Task Force, a group of five residents selected to review applications submitted by Tustin organizations.

The task force based its recommendations on the number of Tustin residents the organization serves, the kind of service provided and the organization’s ability to receive other sources of funding.

The task force’s recommendations are: $6,850 for the Boys and Girls Club youth programs; $5,000 for the Laurel House to provide shelter and meals; $3,000 for the Sheepfold organization’s mortgage debt; $2,500 each for the Villa Center, the Bartlett Meals on Wheels program and the Assistance League of Tustin; $2,000 each for the COPES child abuse prevention program and the Orange County Council on Aging; $1,000 each for Foothill High School and the Tustin Schools Foundation, and $750 to the Tustin Area Historical Society.

The council is not bound by the recommendations, Carter said.