Grants

The Huntington Beach Community Clinic, a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost medical services, has been awarded a $100,000 federal grant. The City Council voted earlier this month to appropriate the money to the operation, which had requested funding to buy a computer and telephone system for its new facility, set to open Tuesday at 8041 Newman Ave. Jackie Cherewick, executive director, said the money will pay for "equipment that we desperately need to serve our patients."

A grant from the Ahmanson Foundation will enable a cognitive retraining program at Pierce College to continue re-educating people who have had traumatic head injuries, college officials have announced. The program, which began last fall, was originally funded by Ahmanson for one year, but educators at Pierce were able to gain a second $20,000 grant this month from the Beverly Hills-based foundation.

The school board is expected to seek federal grants for career development and bilingual education programs tonight. Although trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are expected to approve the applications totaling $412,000, board member Wendy Leece said she will object to taking money from the federal government. But other board members said they will vote in favor of sending the grant application to Washington because the programs benefit most of the students who participate.

A Laguna Beach AIDS service organization has received $15,000 from celebrity foundations recently, and will use it to help deliver food and provide counseling for its clients, the group's director said Friday. Laguna Shanti received $10,000 from the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and $5,000 from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Sarah Kasman said. "Pretty exciting, huh, for little Laguna Shanti?" Kasman said Friday. "This will take care of the excess expenses."

First-time home buyers who could afford mortgage payments but lack enough savings for a down payment can get a break through the "California Dream" mortgage program. Depending on the credit history and income level of applicants, Affordable Housing USA, a nonprofit group, will provide families with grants ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 to make down payments. "The purpose, actually . . . is to help people into their first home," said Steve Carrigan, director of Affordable Housing USA.

More than a year after the money was promised, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement with a private foundation that could bring at least $21 million to the school district over the next five years. The grant is part of a plan by former U.S. Ambassador Walter Annenberg to support and further reform in several cities across the country, an effort known locally as the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project, or LAAMP.

Tearful mothers and daughters implored the San Fernando City Council to provide more federal grant funds to El Centro de Amistad, a tutoring, counseling and gang prevention agency that provides services free of charge. The federal government awarded the city of San Fernando a total of $543,424 in Community Development Block Grant funds to disburse this year to public agencies and social service organizations. Since 1989, the city has used block grant money to fund El Centro.

Elsewhere on the anti-alcohol front, South Gate is one of 20 cities in California to receive a $99,950 grant from the State Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control to bolster enforcement of alcoholic beverage laws. Capt. Gary Kennedy said South Gate is saturated with liquor stores and other markets where alcoholic beverages are sold--82 premises altogether. "Let me tell you," Kennedy said, "that's a high number."

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced Wednesday that he will grant $20,000 to the West Valley Boys & Girls Club to help the group build a second center at Columbus Middle School in Canoga Park. "It's critical that we try to provide our community's young people with the widest possible variety of positive recreational opportunities and social activities," Yaroslavsky said in a statement.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced Wednesday that he will grant $20,000 to the West Valley Boys & Girls Club to help build a second center at Columbus Middle School in Canoga Park. "It's critical that we try to provide our community's young people with the widest possible variety of positive recreational opportunities and social activities," Yaroslavsky said in a statement.