Meeting to Focus on Parents’ Concerns

A town hall meeting Saturday sponsored by the San Fernando/Sylmar Community Council Parent Group will focus on drug, alcohol and crime problems in the area.

The parent group, which functions under the auspices of the San Fernando Valley Partnership, a substance-abuse prevention organization, will also release the findings of a survey it took recently to identify residents’ concerns in San Fernando.

“They went door to door for two weeks talking to more than 200 parents and residents and then analyzed the data to identify the top 10 problems,” said Juana Mojica, a program coordinator at SFVP.

“Based on those findings, they decided to hold this meeting to find ways of solving some of the problems.”

The survey focused on a particularly troublesome stretch of Kalisher Street between Celis Street and O’Melveny Avenue in San Fernando, but the problems there are also present to different degrees throughout San Fernando and Sylmar, Mojica said.

Alcohol-related problems represented the four leading concerns among the surveyed residents, Mojica said, with unemployment, drug use and immigration also making the list.

“It’s an area that has been neglected for a long time. They need a helping hand and that is the main purpose of the town hall meeting,” said Mojica.

Experts in gang and drug-abuse prevention, education and government services are scheduled to speak at the meeting.

The discussion will be followed by entertainment, including a martial arts demonstration, a classical dance recital and a mariachi performance.

Saturday’s meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at San Fernando Elementary School, 1130 Mott St. There is no charge.

For more information, call (818) 837-7767.