Outreach and education programs. Archival storage for historic papers. Community gardens. Roof repairs. Transportation. These are just a few of the needs that will be met thanks to $80,000 worth of Community Services Grants that will be distributed to deserving local charties.

The Santa Clarita City Council will award the monies, which are part of the Parks, Recreation and Community Services budget, to 20 local non-profit organizations serving the Santa Clarita Valley.

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For approximately 20 years, the city has provided annual funding to Santa Clarita-based community organizations. A review panel assesses applications and makes the hard choices to recommend which groups get funded and which ones must be patient.

Past funding has included equipment upgrades, after school enrichment programs, facility renovation projects, and the purchase of vehicles to transport food to families in need. The committee selected “community benefit” as the priority funding area for this year’s grant program.

This year’s grant selection committee included Mayor Pro tem Laurie Ender, Councilmember Laurene Weste, Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Commissioner Duane Harte, and City staff from each department. In total, 25 applications were received, with grant requests totaling $119,271.33. The committee chose to award funds to 20 of those applicants.

The Boys and Girls Club of SCV received $5,000 for their Sierra Vista Clubhouse Beautification Project. Carousel Ranch, a therapeutic riding center, received $4,915 to use towards a technology infrastructure capacity building. The Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center received $4,987 to enhance their computer programs. And the Domestic Violence Center of the Santa Clarita Valley was granted $2,500 to use for outreach and education.

Other organizations and their grant amounts include Bridges To Ability, which received 4,720 for A Bridge To Cyberspace; the Child and Family Center, $5,000 to expand their Wraparound program; College of the Canyons received $1,500 for community gardens on the Canyon Country campus; Family Focus Resource and Empowerment received $1,500 for the Santa Clarita Special Education Parent Institute; the Gentle Barn Foundation received $5,000 for wheelchair access; the Gibbon Conservation Center received $5,000 for the purchase of a skiploader to be used for grounds maintenance and brush abatement; Heads Up Therapy on Horseback was granted $2,500 for stall mats for horses’ leg, back and spine protection; LARC Ranch was given $5,000 to expand their transportation capacity; Lutheran Social Services received $1,500 for supplemental support of the homeless; Pleasantview Industries will get $5,000 for roof repair; the Samuel Dixon Family Health Center will get $5,000 for upgrading their website to align with healthcare reform; the SCV Food Pantry, $5,000 towards a technology/software upgrade; the SCV Historical Society will receive $4,704.33 towards archival storage. The SCV Youth Project will get $5,000 towards campus-based student outreach; Single Mothers Outreach $5,000 for a facility expansion project and the Triumph Foundation, which helps people with spinal cord injuries will received $1,173.67 to expand their website services.

The grant monies awarded are almost always matched with volunteer contributions of time and talent worth many times the grant amount.