SUN VALLEY : Family Care Center Grant Is Rejected

The East Valley Family Care Center in Sun Valley was denied a $400,000 state grant for renovations.

“It’s been a blow to all of us,” said Diane Agliam, principal of Glenwood Elementary School, one of four schools in Sun Valley and North Hollywood that have worked two years to set up the center. The center offers counseling services for parents in low-income neighborhoods.

“It’s almost like a grieving process we’re going through,” Agliam said of the news that the center would not get the funding it had sought.

The center received a $50,000 planning grant from the state last year, and had expanded with volunteer help and the support of local agencies such as the United Way, North Hollywood Rotary Club and Valley Community Clinic. Counseling sessions were started and a dental chair was donated to the center from the Rotary Club, which was also arranging for dentists to volunteer time at the clinic.

“We’ve gone as far as we could without additional money,” Agliam said. The $400,000 would have been used to create a parenting center and renovate two bungalows at Glenwood, turning them into medical clinics for immunizations, screenings and referrals.

For now, the counseling program will continue using classroom space.

“We’re now going to have to put a lot of energy into chasing money instead of providing services,” said Ann Britt, chairwoman of the center’s board of directors. The center will focus on getting private donations and corporate sponsors. The center serves parents of students at Glenwood, Roscoe Elementary School in Sun Valley, and Camilla and Arminta elementary schools in North Hollywood.

“We were so much depending on that grant,” Agliam said. “It was to have provided our students and our families with the . . . services that are so desperately needed.”