Applications to Close for Chief at Shelter

A search committee charged with selecting an administrator for Ventura County’s first shelter for troubled youths will close its application period Thursday.

More than 50 people have applied for the position of executive director of Casa Pacifica, an eight-building complex for troubled and abused children under construction in Camarillo.

The search committee, made up of members of the Casa Pacifica board of directors, plans to make a decision about who will get the job before the end of the year, interim director Tanya Gonzales said.

The center is being built on 22 acres leased to the organization from Ventura County, said Gonzales, who added that the goal of the project is to centralize a host of existing services for abused children.

“What we’re trying to do by providing services in one location is decrease the trauma a child goes through,” she said. “We don’t want the child bounced around from place to place to be assessed and treated after they’ve gone through such a traumatic experience.”

The 60-bed shelter, which would offer youths under 18 years of age a safe haven from a troubled home life, will also include a library, education center and several cottages.

“Camarillo is really a central spot because we’re going to serve children in the whole county,” Gonzales said.

Most of the shelter’s funding comes from a $4-million county grant approved by supervisors in 1990. Organizers hope to open the facility in the spring, Gonzales said.