COUNTRY CLUB PARK : County Restores Youth Group Funds

The county Board of Supervisors has restored funding for the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation, which sponsors youth programs at 17 schools.

For nearly 20 years the foundation had been funded by the California Youth Authority, but in 1991 funding responsibility was shifted to the county. A victim of the county’s budget crunch, the foundation has had its annual funding slashed from $489,000 to $50,000 since 1991, according to Kathleen Brown, administrative director.

But last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to restore funds for the foundation, allocating about $400,000 for one year, Brown said.

The foundation, established in 1969, organizes and funds after-school and weekend programs for students 6 to 16, offering sports, arts and crafts, tutoring and classes in personal development.

Many of the schools at which the foundation sponsors programs are in Central Los Angeles where recreational facilities are scarce and schools lack the money to fund programs, Brown said.

Cecilia Duran, principal at Berendo Middle School, said the program at her school is “very positive and certainly worthwhile.”

“It’s very much needed in a community like this where there are so few positive places for children to go after school,” Duran said.

Brown said she knows there is a budget crisis, but added: “We still need these kids off the streets. Our program is a prevention program that tries to reach kids before they get into gangs and drugs. Our goal is to help them discover their potential and self-worth.”

Participants in the foundation’s programs include football star Marcus Allen and Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner, as well as students who have gone on to become professionals in other fields, Brown said.

The foundation’s office is at 1060 S. Crenshaw Blvd.

Information: (213) 936-2121.