Complex to Get Funds to Aid Drug Fight
San Fernando Gardens, one of 21 subsidized housing complexes in the city, will receive part of a $2.2-million federal grant to help fund its drug prevention and treatment programs, authorities said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the money to the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles to fund the authority’s Drug Elimination Program.
Eight of the city’s 21 low-income housing projects will split the grant. San Fernando Gardens in Pacoima is the only subsidized community in the Valley that will receive grant money.
The Drug Elimination Program offers counseling and tutoring for children. Youths aged 7 to 15 can participate in organized sports programs and receive drug and health education classes. The grant money will help foster these programs, officials said.
“These programs will excite the kids to do things other than drugs and stay away from gangs, drugs and other things we are trying to keep our kids out of,” said George McQuade, a Housing Authority spokesman.
Mario Matute, project director of San Fernando Gardens community services center, said he hopes to provide a detox program for residents who are trying to kick their drug habits.
San Fernando Gardens, which has 448 units, also offers computer classes and job training for its residents, Matute said.
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