PACOIMA : Lack of Funds to End Day-Care Program

The Pacoima Youth Development Center, which provides low-cost day-care services for 57 children, is set to close in two weeks due to lack of funds, administrators said Friday.

The center, which operates out of Pacoima Elementary school, was started in 1992 with a $100,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help parents go to work and stay off welfare.

The HUD money was a one-time grant, however, and the program found itself with no money last September. The center survived up to now thanks to a $25,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente and a $25,000 grant from the Ahmanson Foundation.

“The money’s run out, basically,” said Director Elisa Garcia. “We’ve approached (Los Angeles City) Council members and other politicians, but they say there’s no money available.”

About 75 children are on a waiting list to join the popular program, which is run by the Antelope Valley-based Youth Development Corp. Most of the children live in Pacoima’s San Fernando Gardens Housing Project, according to Garcia, and the parents simply cannot afford any other means of day care.

The closure of the center will force some of them to go on welfare, or otherwise drastically affect their lives, Garcia said. She met with most of the parents Friday to tell them the bad news.

Gilbert Aguilar, 29, said he was able to attend Mission College because the center was taking care of his two children.

“It’s going to be quite difficult now, paying for my books, paying for a baby-sitter,” he said. “I’ll probably have to put school on hold.”