City looking for suggestions on how to spend federal grant money





Warm food and shelter for the homeless. Free medical treatment for the working poor. Engaging after-school activities for teenagers with developmental disabilities.

These are just some of the services supported by federal Community Development Block Grant funds in Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park in 2010-11.

For the upcoming fiscal year, the city is invitingresidentstocommentata6p.m.hearing Tues., Jan. 18 in a third-floor city hall boardroom on how best to spend block grant money.

The comments will be available for public review during the month of March and then incorporated into a draft plan expected to go before the City Council for approval April 26. The final plan will be sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in May. Every year, HUD awards grant money to municipalities for social service programs, to prevent or eliminate blight or to meet other community development needs.

Last year the department gave Thousand Oaks $583,000 to distribute to area nonprofits.

Caroline Milton, a senior analyst with the city’s community development, said it’s reasonable to expect HUD to give the city the same amount this year.

The city awarded $20,000 last year to Lutheran Social Services, or LSS Community Care Center, for its emergency services program, which cares for the needs of the disadvantaged.

Darlene Mees, LSS area director, said if block grant funds weren’t available more people would be at risk of being homeless.

LSS emergency services not only provides the homeless with showers, mail access and help in securing permanent housing but offers assistance to people on the brink of eviction.

“We’re blessed,” Mees said of the money. “I feel like the city is a wonderful partner.”

The program provides a hot meal every day of the year to anyone who’s hungry and shelter four months of the year and other basic services for the homeless.

Last year, from July through September, their services helped more than 400 individuals.

Westminster Free Clinic received $12,000 in block grant funds from the city for 2010 and 2011. The money is being used to buy medication, medical supplies and laboratory services for diabetic patients who cannot afford them.

Lisa Safaeinili, executive director, said the clinic, located in the United Methodist Church of Thousand Oaks, is caring for increasingly more of the working poor, many with chronic illnesses such as diabetes.

Often patients are employed but their jobs don’t offer medical insurance or, if they do, the person can’t afford the high premiums, Safaeinili said.

As a result, they wait until their illness has progressed to the point that it threatens their life and they seek help at an emergency room—a more costly alternative to preventive healthcare, she said.

Also, tighter Medi-Cal eligibility rules have forced more Conejo Valley residents to seek services at the free clinic.

“There’s this big population out there of people who are falling through the cracks,” Safaeinili said.

Westminster also operates a free clinic for the homeless at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Westlake Village.

Both clinics are caring for more than 7,000 patients a year—four times the number they saw two years ago, Safaeinili said.

The Arc of Ventura County provides after-school activities in a Newbury Park church for 24 teenagers and young adults with developmental disabilities. Thousand Oaks gave the program $4,000 in federal grant money in 2010- 11.

Every weekday and all day during the summer and school breaks, the program offers an engaging environment for teenagers in need of supervision who might otherwise go home to an empty house, said Joanne Abruzzese, director of East County services for The Arc of Ventura County.

“There’s no such thing (anywhere else) as an after-school program for teenagers,” she said.

Because this program exists, parents can go to work knowing their child is in capable hands and a safe environment, Abruzzese said.

“The fact that the city supports us in doing what we do is incredibly beneficial,” Abruzzese said. “So we truly, truly appreciate it.”