Service Groups to Get Excess HUD Funds

With a City Council-approved allocation of funds using savings other organizations realized this year, several East Valley community service organizations will receive an unexpected windfall.

The city’s Community Development Department identified $20,000 in leftover funds from a federal Housing and Urban Development grant within the Pacoima portion of the federal Empowerment Zone for Los Angeles.

Although the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley will receive the money, it has agreed to share it with several other service organizations, some of which did not receive funding the first time around.

The federal funds will be used to further youth services in Sylmar, North Hills, Panorama City and Mission Hills.

The agencies primarily provide services for young people, not by design but out of necessity for the population, said Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the area.

“My community is very young,” he said. “The average age in my district is 25, therefore there is a great need for these organizations and they’re doing great work.”

In total, the Boys & Girls Club serving the area will receive $1,500.

The Pacoima Community Youth Culture, El Proyecto de Barrio, San Fernando Valley Japanese-American Culture Center, Sylmar Graffiti Busters and the Latino Arts Council will each receive $1,000.

The Sylmar Independent and Sun Valley baseball leagues and the Pacoima Senior Citizens Center each will receive $500.

City officials said if the savings reported by some organizations had not been reallocated elsewhere, the leftover HUD money would have gone into the city’s general fund.