City doles out $250,000 to 19 groups

Deirdre Newman

When the Rev. Dennis Short of Harbor Christian Church entered the

council chambers Monday, his somber expression matched the black

funeral suit he was wearing.

His grave facade illustrated his concern that the city wasn’t

being generous enough in its disbursement of public service grants to

programs that assist the homeless.

Short and others were able to convince the council to provide a

hefty sum to the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter in its annual

allocation of the community development block grant funds. The

shelter ended up receiving $18,000 of about $250,000 the city had to

work with, and Short left the chambers smiling.

“I’m very pleased that the council was willing to take a second

look at the allocations of funds and wish that they could allocate

larger amounts of money to deal with homeless issues in Costa Mesa,”

Short said.

As a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development entitlement

city, Costa Mesa is automatically eligible to receive the grants. For

the 2004-05 fiscal year, the city received about $1.7 million.

Housing and Urban Development rules allow a maximum of 15% of these

funds to be used for public service programs that benefit low- and

moderate-income people.

The city received 24 funding requests, for more than $415,000.

Based on city guidelines, the council could give out a maximum of 20

grants. The council was most generous to seniors, giving the Costa

Mesa Senior Center $20,250 for its social services program and

another $20,000 for its preventive health program.

“I’m grateful that the committee recommended this and that the

council gave us the full amount because I know it’s always difficult

to shift funds and please everyone,” Senior center Director Aviva

Goelman said. “I think we do deserve the money because we serve so

many seniors who are low-income and we serve more homeless every

year. We welcome the homeless here and they are treated as equals.”

The council based most of its disbursements on the recommendation

of the city’s Redevelopment and Residential Rehabilitation Committee.

But the committee had only recommended 19 grants, with none for the

shelter. Based on the pleas of Short and others, the council took

$15,000 away from Colette’s Children’s Home and $3,000 from Camp Fire

USA to give to the shelter. The shelter will use the funds for a job

skills program.

“I’m sorry that it was taken away from other programs to give to

[the shelter] because all the programs are important,” Short said.

The council also took the remaining $5,000 recommended for Camp

Fire USA and gave that to Dayle McIntosh Center -- a program that

helps disabled people become self-sufficient -- which wasn’t slated

to receive any funds. Camp Fire USA had asked for $15,000 for a youth

arts program and ended up with nothing.

The allocation discussion included the perennial issue of race

pertaining to some of the grant applicants. A subcommittee of the

Redevelopment and Residential Rehabilitation Committee suggested a

requirement for two applicants -- Save Our Youth and the Boys and

Girls Club -- to implement an outreach program for new participants

to attract more non-Latinos. Some of the committee members felt that

because these programs serve a large number of Latinos, youths of

other ethnicities might be discouraged from participating. The

committee ultimately rejected this suggestion.

Trevor Murphy, executive director of Save Our Youth, said these

programs are based on need, not race.

Many of the city council member expressed how arduous they felt

the allocation process is.

“This is not an easy process,” said Councilwoman Libby Cowan.

“Every one of these organizations is worthy.”