Mayor Seeks Jobs Grant for Pacoima

Months after Pacoima was excluded from one jobs grant program, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has proposed that $500,000 be spent on a new one providing education and job training for 300 youths in the northeast Valley community.

The proposal to create a new Pacoima Youth Opportunities Program comes after many Valley civic leaders protested the community’s exclusion by the City Council from a $12-million federal program that benefited Watts and East Los Angeles.

Councilman Alex Padilla, who represents Pacoima, asked Riordan to help find other funding.

“This is about delivering for the young people of Pacoima,” said David Gershwin, a spokesman for Padilla, in applauding the mayor’s announcement Thursday.

Riordan proposed the Pacoima program as part of a $175-million plan for spending federal funds beginning this year.

The plan, which now goes to the City Council for consideration, includes money to expand after-school, park, lunch and summer camp programs, as well as efforts to tear down nuisance properties, fix 27 miles of sidewalks, plant 4,000 trees and bail out 10 redevelopment project areas that are not financially self-sustaining.

The Valley will receive about 20% of the sidewalk repairs, $1 million for construction of a library in Lake View Terrace, free lunch programs at five Valley recreation centers, after-school sports programs at 20 Valley parks and expansion of the L.A. Best after-school program to Langdon Elementary School.

The lion’s share of citywide money--about $54 million--is proposed for affordable housing programs.

The mayor said the overall plan emphasizes programs that help young people in poor neighborhoods, noting that the U.S. Census Bureau says 35% of Los Angeles’ children live in poverty.

“In a city of such great prosperity, creativity and opportunity, this statistic is not acceptable,” Riordan said.

City officials say the poverty rate for young people in Pacoima is higher than the citywide average. About 37% of Pacoima youths live in poverty.

The high poverty rate has been a factor in the inclusion of Pacoima in federal and state empowerment zones, which provide tax credits to companies that hire local residents.

But opponents of Pacoima’s inclusion in the federal Youth Opportunities Grant application in September said the competitive program favored communities that have existing job-training programs in place. Pacoima did not.

Padilla protested at the time.

The $500,000 proposed by Riordan on Thursday would provide job training for Pacoima residents ages 16 to 24 and could make the community more competitive for future federal grants.

In anticipation of the funds, Padilla has identified a building in Pacoima that could be converted into a job training center and has asked the city General Services Department to begin the process of purchasing and retrofitting the property, Gershwin said.