Grant Saves Child Center From Closure

A child-care center serving one of the San Fernando Valley’s poorest neighborhoods got a boost this week when a major philanthropic group granted it $25,000.

The money from the Ahmanson Foundation is the second grant in as many months for the Pacoima Youth Development School-Age Program, an after-school center based at Pacoima Elementary School. Program officials had feared that it would have to close up shop for lack of money.

“I tell you, we couldn’t have had a better Christmas gift,” said Catherine Speer, board member of the Youth Development Corp., which runs the center.

The program, which serves working parents in and around the San Fernando Gardens Housing Project, still has a long way to go to reach its estimated annual operating budget of about $125,000, Speer said.

The center was created as a pilot program through a $100,000 federal grant in July, 1992, and the corporation has stretched the funds to keep its doors open, Speer said. About 54 children, ages 5 to 13, are enrolled in the center’s after-school science and arts and crafts programs, according to Speer.

An official with the Ahmanson Foundation said it is the organization’s policy not to comment on its grants.