Supervisors Award Federal Funds to Service Agencies : Government: County officials designate more than $2.4 million in grants for community groups, but some organizations go empty-handed at the hearing.

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday awarded more than $2.4 million in federal funds to local agencies that serve the area’s homeless, unemployed, abused and drug-addicted.

The funding is money the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides each year under community development programs to finance residential and social service projects for the needy.

During an hourlong hearing, representatives from the county’s most visible nonprofit organizations told supervisors what they would do with the grant money.

But despite the appeals, several of the applicants left Tuesday’s hearing empty-handed.

“What we’re attempting to do is expand our facility because we literally turn down food (donations) every week,” said Jim Mangis, executive director of Food Share, which was denied a $100,000 grant Tuesday. “We don’t have enough refrigerator space or storage space.”

Dozens of organizations applied for help, but just 19 groups got a share of the $1.6 million in Community Development Block Grants. A handful of other groups were awarded grants under two separate programs.

The funds can only be designated for programs in unincorporated areas of the county and in the cities of Santa Paula, Fillmore, Port Hueneme, Moorpark and Ojai because the larger cities run their own Community Development Block Grant programs.

Final approval of the recommendations is scheduled for later this spring, after each of the cities holds hearings on allocating its federal grant money.

More than $550,000 of the county’s $2.4 million in federal grants--nearly 25%--will be spent administering the awards.

“I wish we had enough money to answer all of the needs we have out there,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee told the audience. “But thank you for the work you do in the county.”

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Dan Hardy, who runs the Many Mansions support group for homeless people in and around Thousand Oaks, was more fortunate than others.

“We’re seeing 150 new homeless people each month, but the nearest shelter is in Ventura,” Hardy told supervisors. “During the day, these people are put out on the street, but to get jobs, they need meals, showers and mailboxes.”

The Many Mansions organization requested $300,000 in funds, but was eventually awarded $50,000 to help launch a transitional housing center.

Other major recipients include the county library system, which was awarded $50,000; a gymnasium project in El Rio, granted $200,000; and a county housing rehabilitation program, which was given more than $283,000.

Supervisors also awarded more than $800,000 in grants from two other funds--the federal emergency shelter and HOME programs. But like the Community Development Block Grants, competition for the limited funds was fierce.

The Turning Point Foundation applied for about $20,000 in block grants to pay for a housing program for mentally ill patients throughout Ventura County. But it was denied.

AIDS Care also sought $200,000 in grants to help open two homes for HIV-positive patients in the county, but lost out to other programs deemed more worthwhile.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m not totally surprised,” said Doug Green, executive director of AIDS Care, who also has applied for grants with the city of Ventura. “There are lots and lots of players chasing very few dollars. I’ve learned a lot from the process and I’ll be back next year. I’m not going to give up on this project, and I’m not going away.”

Green said he learned Tuesday that Ventura city staff members had recommended that the City Council deny his application for $270,000 in HOME funds for the project, even though 40% of the county’s HIV-positive residents live in Ventura.

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Before voting on the funding recommendations presented by staff, Supervisor Judy Mikels said she was worried that the groups receiving grants this year would come to rely on the annual funding

“My fear is that a lot of the (same) organizations are consistently getting funded,” Mikels said. “I hate to see them dependent on (block grant) funding. If it is cut off, we lose the value of the program.”

Marty Robinson, the chief administrative office assistant who compiled the recommendations, said she told the applicants not to expect help every year.

“We have encouraged the nonprofits to go out and find other funding,” she said.