Eli Broad Aids Group on Belmont Proposal
Los Angeles financier Eli Broad is lending a hand to a group of Latino leaders who want to complete the abandoned Belmont Learning Complex and run it as a charter school.
Broad’s educational foundation has given $16,000 in seed money to the Alliance for a Better Community, a nonprofit organization that is preparing a proposal to finish building the shuttered campus just north of downtown.
The alliance is one of several private organizations or companies that have expressed interest in completing the school. The groups are responding to a request for proposals from the Los Angeles Unified School District to build and operate the campus. The proposals are due Sept. 24.
Leaders of the Latino alliance sought Broad’s assistance, and the funds from his foundation will pay for a staffer to coordinate their proposal.
A spokeswoman for Broad, chairman of the financial services institution SunAmerica Inc., said he has not decided whether to contribute more money. Preparing a proposal to complete Belmont could cost $100,000 or more.
The alliance is working with a power-packed team that includes the group Excellent Education Development, which manages charter schools and also receives funding from the Broad foundation.
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