Assn. for Retarded Citizens Seeks Aid

Threatened with looming state budget cuts after already losing about $500,000 in public funding, Ventura County’s Assn. for Retarded Citizens is turning to private donors for help.

“Everybody needs money these days to stay afloat,” said Fred Robinson, the association’s executive director. “This is new for us though. We’ve been dependent on public funds, but with future state budget cuts likely we need some stable source of funding.”

Robinson said 80% of the association’s $6-million budget comes from government grants and state programs. Most of that money goes to job training for the more than 700 retarded adults in the county that depend on the organization’s services, he said.

The training has led to a variety of jobs for clients, including a man who works as a clerk at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Clients also have been trained to work as janitors, bakers and stock clerks.

“We’re training people for independent living,” Robinson said. “We teach them how to live, cook and pay the bills on their own.”

The association wants to raise at least $2 million over the next two years by applying to private foundations for grants. The money will be invested in the form of an endowment. As the endowment grows interest from the funds will provide the association with a steady source of income, Robinson said.

The association has already received an $800,000 donation from a Pasadena couple, he said.