Oak View placed in good hands

Handing the reigns of the Oak View Community Center to the Children’s

Bureau of Southern California was one of the better moves the city

has made.

The aim of the nonprofit group is to care for and protect

children, to help them become productive adults and to give parents

the tools needed to succeed in raising their children.

That just sounds like someone answered an Oak View want ad. The

bureau, which just finalized a deal with the city to take over the

center on May 1, is much better equipped to run the center than the

city was.

The Oak View Community Center is an after-school program that

provides sports and recreation activities for at-risk youth.

Sometimes referred to as the “Slater Slums,” this community has long

been troubled by youth gangs and crime.

In this neighborhood, where the population is 99% Latino, parents

often can’t help their children with homework as they might like, and

seek adult education classes to learn English.

The Children’s Bureau already runs the Family Resource Center,

which is at Oak View Elementary School.

The Family Resource Center provides a bevy of services for the

community including parenting classes, health services, literacy

programs, legal assistance and information on adoption and foster

care. It also offers recreational activities like sewing, aerobics,

arts and crafts, and youth and teen support programs such as

counseling, college preparation and homework assistance.

The bureau is clearly a great fit for Oak View. The only concern

is funding. Nonprofit agencies often need the support of the

community to make these programs work.

Although the city will no longer fund Oak View, the center will

still receive $51,200 in block grant funding from the city.

Additional funding will come from the Orange County Social Services,

United Way, Orange County Community Foundation and fund-raising

efforts. Since the Children’s Bureau serves all of Southern

California its fund-raising efforts are wide-spread, but support from

the Surf City community will still be key.

It is a good match. Hopefully under new guidance, the community

center will be able to bring back programs that were cut when the

city slashed funding in September and bring full-time employees back

on staff.