City grants programs’ wishes
Deirdre Newman
FISH-Harbor Area works to prevent homelessness and hunger by
intervening before these conditions occur.
On Monday, the Newport Beach-based organization received $35,000
from the city in the form of a Community Block Development Block
Grant for its work.
FISH was one of 21 agencies that got grants disbursed by the City
Council in a 4-1 vote, with Allan Mansoor dissenting because he did
not feel enough funding went to seniors.
As a Housing and Urban Development entitlement city, Costa Mesa is
automatically eligible to receive the grants and “HOME” funds. These
two programs provide more than $2 million to the city a year and a
variety of services to assist low- and moderate-income people and
prevent blight in deteriorated neighborhoods.
Many agency representatives expressed gratitude for the funding.
“It means quite a lot to FISH to get the money. We certainly
appreciate it,” said Wendy Ingham, FISH’s fund developer. “The
homeless prevention program helps families in Costa Mesa for whatever
reason -- if they have a large medical or car repair bill and can’t
make all their payments.
“[It] can help them perhaps with paying child-care and keep them
in their home so they don’t become homeless, because once they do,
it’s difficult for them to get out of it,” she said. “It’s just
one--time assistance.”
The decision was not without detractors, with some residents
suggesting the city should shift its funding priorities. One of the
existing guidelines is that 40% of the grant funds can be allocated
to homelessness prevention and homeless assistance programs.
“It appears that the city is helping the homeless instead of
trying to prevent it,” Judy Berry said. “I believe we should spend
more money on senior and youth services and less on the homeless.”
The block grant funding comes out of a grant of approximately $1.7
million for the 2003-4 fiscal year.
In addition to the 18 agencies recommended by staff to receive
grants, three others benefited from HUD’s generosity, thanks to
Councilman Gary Monahan.
The Dayle McIntosh Center, which helps the disabled become
self-sufficient, received $6,000; Assessment and Treatment Services
Center, which provides youth and family counseling got $5,000; and
Youth Employment Service of the Harbor Area, which helps about 1,200
students and young people with life and job skills annually, received
$6,370.
“I was disappointed that the three were left off the original
grant recommendation,” Monahan said. “And I was very satisfied that
my colleagues were willing to agree with me and fund a couple of
services that are very important for some people in our society that
need a helping hand.”
At the request of Councilwoman Libby Cowan, the council also
approved fully funding the Costa Mesa Senior Corporation Preventive
Health Program to the tune of $15,000 and adding $1,000 to the
funding for the corporation’s Social Services Program, bringing its
funding to $6,000.
The city will also receive about $800,000 from HUD that an only
be used to increase housing opportunities for low-income residents.
The council also unanimously approved its annual action plan, an
overview of how it will distribute all the HUD funds, and approved
reallocating leftover block grant funds of about $168,000 from
previous years to the Whittier Street Improvement Project.
In approving the action plan, however, the council directed staff
to review the issue of drainage on Hamilton Street and have
information available at its next study session about how agencies
are scored in relation to their block grant funding.
At that study session, the council will also review its action
plan and get an update from the Costa Mesa Police Department on the
crime statistics it provided for the agencies that requested funding.
During council discussion, there was some question about how
relevant the statistics were since, for some of them, calls were
shown from various offices within a single property, making it hard
to tell which, if any, were directly caused by the agencies that had
requested funding.
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