HUNTINGTON PARK : Boxing Club’s Funds May Be in Jeopardy

The Huntington Park Youth Boxing Club’s future may be in danger after an inspection last month found that a slim majority of participants were not city residents.

Jack Wong, director of the city’s Community Development Department, said that the federal Community Development Block Grant the city uses to fund the program stipulates that the majority of the club members must live in the city. According to Wong’s report, 16 of the club’s 31 members live outside the city, which represents an improvement over the previous year.

The City Council will decide this month whether to continue funding the club.

“It’s not a good use of our funds if half the kids are non-Huntington Park residents,” Wong said. “That means half the funding should come from outside the city.”

In last year’s round of city budget cuts, the club’s budget was reduced from $70,000 to $35,000. The Boxing Club has two paid part-time employees and two volunteers.

The Boxing Club charges monthly fees of $10 for non-residents and $6 for each additional family member. City residents are not charged. The club’s business manager, Josie Arrey, said she has collected $180 in fees since July.

The typical member spends 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day, five days a week, at the club, according to Wong’s report. It is open six days a week, and seven days a week when preparing for a boxing show.

Club members are not allowed to swear, chew gum or spit on the gym floor. The club also prohibits weapons and all forms of gang clothing, including hats worn backward.

In response to the city’s concerns over the club’s funding and enrollment, Arrey noted the boxing program’s positive presence in members’ lives: “The kids come here to forget their daily worries. By teaching boxing, we keep kids from joining gangs.”

The club is also gaining a reputation as a prime training spot. Last year, it produced two national Golden Gloves champions--Salvador Casillas, 18, in the flyweight division, and Jose Hernandez, 14, in the middleweight division. Both are Huntington Park residents.

Arrey, 43, who has directed the program for seven years, said it makes no difference whether the participants live in the city, because all of them attend Huntington Park High School and their families contribute to the city by doing business in the city’s commercial district.

Arrey said the club is seeking alternative ways to augment its funding. A barbecue and boxing match in which spectators will pay for a meal and chance to see the club’s best aspirants spar with each other is planned for later this month.

The City Council approved funding for the club June 20, when it allocated $5,000 per month for three months. Marin said the money came from a federally funded grant from Housing and Urban Development.

Mayor Pro Tem Rosario Marin said the club’s future depends on how it fares in its in-house search for boosters. “If they haven’t done anything to look for other funding, we’ll probably pull their funds,” Marin said.

For 12-year-old Urbano Antillon, whose idol is Eastside boxing great Oscar De La Hoya, the threats to the club’s future are baffling: “All I want to do is box and this is the only place to go.”