CANOGA PARK : New Center Opens for Quake Victims

As a way to reach West Valley residents still hurting--both psychologically and financially--from the Northridge earthquake, Los Angeles city officials opened the Guadalupe Earthquake Recovery Community Service Center on Thursday in Canoga Park.

“There were a lot of people on the edge before the earthquake, and the earthquake had pushed them over it,” said Gloria Stevenson Clark, director of human services and neighborhood development for the city’s Community Development Department.

A three-year federal grant of $4.2 million will pay for the center and six others in Los Angeles, Clark said. The goal is to help the possibly thousands of quake victims still on public assistance become self-sufficient again, she said.

For example, Clark said, there are 30,000 people still living on subsidized housing vouchers that expire this summer.

The center has five staff members who will try to find help and services for those still reeling from the quake. Two of the staff members will go out into the community looking for shut-ins or other people who are isolated and do not know where to go to get help.

“As the various federal and state resources are exhausted, the need goes underground,” said Parker Anderson, Community Development Department general manager.

The center will include a phone for Infoline, a city referral service. But Anderson said the staff will provide more than just lists of information.

Staff members, he said, are already meeting with local property owners to line up alternative housing for quake victims. Job training and placement also will be offered.

Clark said a nonprofit organization will be chosen to deliver other services.

Telephone service was being installed Thursday, and the center was expected to be up and running today, Clark said.

For more information, call (213) 237-0660.