Padilla Seeks City Funding for Pacoima Youth Initiative
Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla said Thursday he will ask Mayor Richard Riordan to set aside $900,000 in next year’s city budget to help fund a job-training program in the northeast San Fernando Valley.
A Los Angeles City Council panel on Monday rejected a request to include Pacoima in an application for a federal job-training grant for young people, limiting that program to Watts and East Los Angeles.
As an alternative, Padilla said he wants the city to set aside $900,000 in federal community development block grant funds for the first year of a program he’s calling “Pacoima Youth Initiative 2000.”
Like the federal grant, the new program would offer youth job training and counseling services.
If the funding is approved, Padilla said his plan is to offer the program “beyond just the community of Pacoima.” His comments came at a community lunch sponsored by the Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Padilla said his next step will be to lobby Riordan to include funds for the program in next year’s budget. He said he has already received assurances of support from some council members.
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