Grants

All three Orange County theater troupes seeking state funding have been given stronger grant recommendations this year than last by a California Arts Council advisory panel. The panel, which met last week in Sacramento, upped the rankings used to determine grant amounts: Costa Mesa's South Coast Repertory went from 4-minus to 4 (the top score on a 1-to-4 scale); and Laguna Playhouse and Fullerton Civic Light Opera both went from 3-minus to 3.

West Valley nonprofit organizations and other groups are invited to a workshop today in Reseda to learn about a new grant program to improve and beautify neighborhoods. The NeighborGood Program will provide grants of $250 to $2,500 for community-based improvement projects in the West Valley. It is funded with $20,000 in community service money from the office of Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick. The meeting will be from 10 a.m.

The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department has awarded a grant to the Social and Public Art Resource Center for artist honorariums and for administration of a mural restoration program. Artists will receive $500 from the Emergency Relief Fund for Mural Restoration. Recipients are Wallace Cronk, Larry Gruda, Arthur Mortimer, Frank Romero, Ann Thierman, Richard Wyatt, Emily Cordova and Henry Brown III.

The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Los Angeles has announced grants to several Jewish institutions in the San Fernando Valley for projects ranging from programs serving Russian emigres to a relocated recovery house for addicts and criminal offenders. The recently announced grants totaled $373,574 for innovative programs and outreach to people unaffiliated with Jewish community activities, said Stuart Buchalter, foundation president.

The Borromeo String Quartet, violinist Yura Lee and bassist DaXun Zhang have won $25,000 Avery Fisher Career Grants for rising performers. Formed in 1989 in Stresa, Italy, the Borromeo is the quartet in residence at the New England Conservatory of Music and at Dai-Ichi Semei Hall in Tokyo. Its members are violinists Nicholas Kitchen and Kristopher Tong, violist Mai Motobuchi and cellist Yeesun Kim.

City officials are expected to make tough decisions tonight about distributing nearly $2 million in federal funds among many needy causes. The city has about $500,000 left from last year's Community Development Block Grant funding to add to the $1.4 million apportioned for this year. The city has had about $2.2 million in requests, according to a report from the Economic Development Department, which oversees the program.

Representatives of Councilwoman Laura Chick will present a workshop Thursday showing nonprofit groups how to apply for West Valley NeighborGood grants to further their community work. The NeighborGood program will provide several grants, using $20,000 of the district office's community service funds and gifts of $5,000 each from Kaiser Medical Center in Woodland Hills and AT & T.

More than $16 million in county grants are available for public and nonprofit agencies to build recreation centers for at-risk youth or senior citizens, prevent graffiti, plant trees, and buy or restore natural lands, rivers and trails. The competitive grants are funded by two Proposition A bond measures, approved by voters in 1992 and 1996, to improve parks and recreational facilities and buy open space. The county will sponsor a workshop Oct. 8 and 9 to teach people how to apply.

Susan Balmanno, the principal at Point Fermin Elementary School in San Pedro, never imagined she would meet Kirk Douglas. On Tuesday, she not only met the famed actor--she came away with a $25,000 check to turn an asphalt space in front of her campus into a playground. Point Fermin was one of 31 schools receiving a total of $655,000 in grants Tuesday from the Anne and Kirk Douglas Playground Enhancement Awards.

A homeless shelter being built at the former Tustin Marine base received $1 million in construction funds Thursday, the largest of seven grants given to low-income housing projects in Orange County. The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, a federally sponsored lender that provides low-interest mortgages to low-income housing programs, awarded nearly $3 million to Orange County projects out of a $43-million giveaway nationwide.