Burbank allocates about $1 million in federal grant funds to nonprofit groups in city
While they may not have received the full amount of funding they were seeking this year, several nonprofits in Burbank will receive a total of roughly $1 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to help continue providing services to residents.
The Burbank City Council unanimously voted recently to distribute the funds to local nonprofits and organizations so they can carry out various programs and economic-development projects to better serve the community.
Marcos Gonzalez, the city’s grants coordinator, said all 16 applications submitted for this fiscal year’s funding received some monies for their projects.
Of the applications, 11 were classified as public-service projects and five were labeled as capital- and economic-development projects.
Gonzalez said the funding prioritization was based on two factors — a project’s emphasis on helping the city address homelessness and its benefit to the community.
The organization that received the most funding, as well as its full requested amount, was the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley and its project to build a new clubhouse.
Burbank will allocate $500,000 to the nonprofit this fiscal year and another $500,000 during the 2020-21 fiscal year to help pay for planning and construction costs.
Gonzalez said the city granted a similar request previously when it helped another nonprofit, the Burbank Temporary Aid Center, or BTAC, and entered into a two-year commitment with the homeless-services organization to allocate a total of $1 million to help with construction of its new facility at 1304 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank.
This year, the city gave BTAC $25,000 to help fund its homelessness prevention programs.
The Boys & Girls Club plans to build its new 15,000-square-foot main clubhouse at Providence Elementary School, 1919 N. Ontario St., Burbank. The new facility is estimated to cost about $9 million, said Shanna Warren, chief executive of the nonprofit.
She added that the project has already received about $2 million — $1 million from the Walt Disney Co. and another $1 million through fundraising.
“The impact of this new, state-of-the-art Boys & Girls Club will extend far beyond the walls of the club, and this safe haven will be transformational for our community,” Warren said.
The Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and the Greater East Valley will also receive $5,000 for its after-school and summer programs.
The City Council also approved giving the Salvation Army of Burbank $120,000 to assist in the organization’s construction of office space, showers, lockers and a laundry facility.
The Burbank Community YMCA will receive $64,000 to help pay for elevator lift replacements and $12,333 for its Learn, Grow, Thrive Summer Day Camp.
Burbank will also allocate $50,000 to Lesar Development Consultants, which plans to use the funding to help the city and other nonprofits with building and technical assistance.
The Family Service Agency will receive $24,000 to fund its Care Cottages program at its Puerta Nueva housing project.
BCR A Place to Grow will be allocated $12,068 for its transportation program, which will help transport 83 children and adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
The only city division to submit an application this fiscal year was the Library Department, which will receive $88,098 for construction of a workforce training digital lab, and $12,786 to purchase software for the lab.
