Briefly in the news

The city appointed Children’s Needs Task Force of Huntington Beach is

striving to secure funding to build a center where parents can go to get

information on family counseling, health services, parenting techniques

and childhood education.

“People don’t know where to go,” said Cathy McGough, who serves on the

task force, and on the Huntington Beach City School District’s school

board. “[The center] would be good for families or parents who moved here

and want to know what activities are available.”

The task force received a $35,000 grant in September from The Children

and Families Commission of Orange County, which the task force hopes can

be used to hire a consultant to develop a business plan for the center.

The grant comes from the commission, which was created in 1998 to

handle the revenues generated by Proposition 10, which placed a

50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products sold in

California.

Funds from the tax are required to be used to support health,

education and child care programs that promote healthy early childhood

development from the prenatal stage to age 5.

Before the task force can hire a consultant to help make its plan a

reality, it needs the approval of the commission to use the grant money

for that purpose, said Lane Macy a consultant for the commission.

“But I’m almost sure it’s going to go through, the funds have already

been allocated,” Macy said.

The commission must review and vote on the task force’s work plan, how

the money will be used and the grant agreement at its meeting Dec. 5.

Once on board a consultant will be charged with writing a business

plan for the center, determining an appropriate location and helping

secure ongoing funding, McGough said.

In that business plan will be a property grant application to the

commission, for the money required to run the center.

The task force expects the grant application will be for $350,000,

said task force chairwoman Shirley Carey.

“We’re going to apply for the maximum but don’t expect to have as high

a cost,” McGough said. “We’re not envisioning the center to be huge, more

to deploy people to where services are offered,” McGough said.

But McGough hopes some services could be provided at the center such

as parenting classes for newly married couples and initial counseling.

“Our mission is not tap the city’s general reserves, but have the

center funded from outside sources,” McGough said.

Establishing family resource centers is one of the ways the commission

hopes to meet it’s goal that children are healthy and ready to learn when

they enter school.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to focus on children from the get go to

get ready for school and be productive individuals the rest of their

lives,” said Director of Programs and Evaluations for the Commission

Alyce Mastrianni. “The key is to start doing screening and provide

resources early on to develop and assess what needs the child has.”