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Politics & Government

City Awards Grants to Enrich Carlsbad

More than $35,000 worth of grants were awarded to five groups.

Six community organizations received grants from the City of Carlsbad on Tuesday for their enhancement of the quality of life for residents.

The annual Community Activity Grants, which are designed to support programs that enhance the quality of life for Carlsbad’s residents and visitors, totaled more than $35,000 and were awarded to the following groups:

  • Assistance League of North Coast, $5,000, for assisting Carlsbad schoolchildren who live in poverty. League programs include “Footsteps,” which gives children shoes and socks, “Health Kits,” which provides hygiene kits, and “Operation Bell,” which teams needy families with volunteers who shop together for clothing and supplies so children can attend school with dignity.
  • Assistance League of San Dieguito, $7,000, also for its work with needy Carlsbad schoolchildren. The grant will help fund the league’s Operation Bell program, and provide scholarships for 10 children to attend sixth-grade camp at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.
  • , $5,000, for its “Kids Care” after-school program. The foundation will use the money to fund its LEGO traveling robotics lab, which is a science program that gives Carlsbad students hands-on lessons in robotics.
  • Carlsbad Explorer Post 781 Inc., $10,000, to assist with the post’s law-enforcement internship program. Explorer Post 781 works alongside and assists the City of Carlsbad Police Department. The grant will help pay for uniforms, a van and liability insurance.
  • Phoenix House San Diego Inc., $6,460, for its work reducing substance abuse among youth. Phoenix House will use the funds to reach out to Carlsbad youth who need assistance with mental health and substance abuse problems, to guide them to programs that can assist them.
  • , $1,680, to help stage its “Winter Classic” event, a play to celebrate Carlsbad’s multicultural heritage.

The grant recipients were chosen by a Citizen Review Committee consisting of seven residents. Grant applications were narrowed down by Community Activity Grant criteria and organizations are allowed to receive a Community Activity Grant for three years, after which they cannot apply for a grant for at least two years. After two years pass they may reapply for a grant and receive a maximum of two additional years of funding.

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“The grant program assists in the city’s effort to foster an enhanced sense of community where people feel a sense of belonging and that they matter to one another and want to help each other,” said Housing & Neighborhood Services Director Debbie Fountain, according to a city press release. “This stronger sense of community helps to encourage commitment to common goals and objectives that raise and enhance the community’s quality of life.” 

The City Council had set aside $50,000 in this year’s budget for Community Activity Grants. The remaining balance of $14,860 will be carried forward to the 2012-13 budget year.

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