Smokers tax money to help youth

Danette Goulet

Smokers tax dollars are giving the children of Surf City a boost once

again.

In the latest round of funding from Proposition 10, the 1998

initiative that placed a 50-cent tax on tobacco products sold in

California, three local organizations were awarded more than $300,000 for

programs to help children.

Funds from the proposition are required to be used to support

education, health and child-care programs that promote healthy early

childhood development of children from the prenatal stage to the age of

five.

On Feb. 6 the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, which

was set up for the sole purpose of doling out these tobacco revues,

approved the allocation of more than $9.3 million to fund 54 programs in

the county. Of those 54 programs, 31 are brand new programs and 16 are

established programs, like those funded here in Huntington Beach.

The Boys and Girls Club of Huntington was given $151,000 to fund the

expansion of preschool services, offer parent/teacher training and

purchase classroom materials, said Marissa Espino, a spokeswoman for the

commission. Funding will allow the boys and girls club to hire an on-site

resource coordinator to connect families with essential community

services and provide follow-up support.

The Huntington Beach Community Clinic received a $50,000 grant for a

bilingual social worker and case manager for uninsured low-income mothers

and their newborns. Finally, Collett’s Childrens Home in Huntington Beach

was awarded $135,000 for the Care for Kids program, which will serve

children at risk of homelessness and neglect or mistreatment, Espino

said. So far the commission has doled out $53 million and funded 157

programs in Orange County, all of which benefit young childrenand their

families.