Group Gets Grant for Child-Care Training

The Child Care Resource Center of the San Fernando Valley has received a $150,000 grant from the California Community Foundation for a new program to train 30 low-income women for careers in child care.

Participants will attend child development classes at Mission College in Sylmar and, if necessary, receive specialized training in English as a second language. All expenses--from tuition to books to child care for their own kids--will be paid by the program, said Laura Escobedo, associate director of community relations for the Child Care Resource Center.

“We want to eliminate all barriers,” Escobedo said. “The only thing they’ll have to put in is their blood, sweat and tears, which is what it’ll take.”

The program is open to low-income women who are not receiving welfare but who are participating in the Pacoima Workforce Development Initiative, a grass-roots job development effort.

Besides learning about child care, participants will be taught job hunting and interviewing skills.

Officials hope to start the program in June, once they get additional funding, Escobedo said. The two-year program is estimated to cost $225,000 annually.

In addition, the California Community Foundation gave $200,000 to Excellent Education Development of Santa Monica to develop charter schools in the Hollywood, Echo Park, Hyde Park and Wilshire Center areas; $100,000 to the Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles to renovate a community center; $70,000 to Rainbow Services Ltd. of San Pedro to cover salaries for employees who work with Spanish-speaking battered women and their children; $50,000 for the Trust for Public Land to develop public parks along the Los Angeles River; and $12,000 to Servant Partners of Pasadena for a tutoring program in the Lincoln Heights and Chinatown areas.

The California Community Foundation, the third-largest such nonprofit organization in the state, is a grant clearinghouse supported by donations.