Federal Grant

CRESCENTA VALLEY — What began as a few parents and police officers promoting drug and alcohol awareness has continued growing and is poised to become a permanent force in the foothills. The group, the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition, has seen more families come forward while it applies for federal grants to expand substance-free programs. “Before, we were trying to get a long-term presence, instead of just bits and pieces or a group popping up to fix a problem,” coalition President Howard Hakes said.

A $220,000 federal grant announced Wednesday will help bankroll the cost of replanting kelp forests along the Southern California coast, including off Newport Beach. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the grant to the California Coastkeeper Alliance. The alliance coordinates the activities of several groups that address issues of water quality. Kelp reforestation off Newport Beach started in 2001. Last year, the Orange County Coastkeeper, a water-quality organization, planted kelp in waters near Crystal Cove and Laguna Beach.

Some educators show public service announcements to address bullying. At arts magnet Keppel Elementary, students are tasked with writing and producing their own. Under the leadership of art and media coach April Faieta, the school last month released a series of student-created videos aimed at educating other young people about the issue. “As a student, I hated sitting there being lectured at,” Faieta said. “My mind would often wander. I just think that kids are capable of doing so much, especially with the technology that we have, that to ask someone who is really bright to just sit there and listen to you - I just don't think that is the most effective way of teaching.” The PSAs were made possible in part by Keppel's share of a $7.5-million, three-year federal grant awarded to Glendale Unified in fall 2010.

Firefighters in Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena could soon be using new life-saving defibrillators after the coalition secured a $1.14-million federal grant.  Officials say paramedics in the three cities currently use outdated defibrillators, but the new 12-lead defibrillators capable of monitoring carbon monoxide and dioxide levels will improve patient treatment for better outcomes, according to city reports. The high-tech tools, which cost about $24,000 each, are used to deliver an electrical shock to the heart muscle in heart attack victims.

Federal grant money first awarded to Mark Keppel Elementary School in 2010 came to life Friday in the form of “Bugz,” a musical theater performance staged by kindergarten and first-grade students. The show saw the budding actors sporting insect costumes and acting out scenes from international folk tales about bugs. Keppel has maintained a strong tradition in the visual performing arts. It was bolstered two years ago when it received a share of a three-year, $7.5-million federal grant awarded to Glendale Unified, and was designated a visual and performing arts magnet.

The Board of Supervisors has approved a federal grant request for $990,000 to add to the funding for the new La Crescenta Branch Library. The grant brings the total project budget up to $13.4 million. The funding, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was arranged through Congressman David Dreier. The grant money will pay for earthwork, paving, retaining walls and site utilities for the new library at Foothill Boulevard and La Crescenta Avenue. An earlier federal grant of $447,000 was approved for the project, but has yet to be received by the county.

Amber Willard The Glendale Unified School District Board of Education will meet at 3:30 p.m. today at district headquarters, 223 N. Jackson St. For more information, call 241-3111. The board will consider: Approving contracts for the first phase of a modernization project at Roosevelt Middle School that includes improving roofing and replacing heating and air conditioning systems. The project will cost about $5 million. Funding has been incorporated in the district's Measure K program.

The Verdugo Jobs Center will use a federal grant of about $871,000 to help find jobs for people with disabilities. More people with disabilities have expressed they want to find jobs during the ongoing recession, officials say, but some have difficulties if employers believe they can't work as well as others. The Verdugo Jobs Center, which serves Glendale, Burbank and La Cañada Flintridge, plans to use the money to recruit people with disabilities looking for work, and employers who want to hire them.

The Verdugo Jobs Center will be using a roughly $521,000-federal grant to help find jobs for people with disabilities. With the protracted recession, more people with disabilities have expressed they want to find a job, but some have difficulties if employers believe they can't work as well as others, officials say. The Verdugo Jobs Center , which serves Glendale, Burbank and La Cañada Flintridge, plans to use the money to recruit people...

GLENDALE — A roughly $1-million federal grant will give Glendale Unified history teachers new access to resources, curriculum development and mentoring by UCLA history professors, officials said. The U.S. Department of Education awarded the three-year Teaching American History grant Monday, which provides Glendale Unified history teachers with a curriculum coach and access to primary documents at the archives at the Autry National Center. "With the experts at UCLA and with the collaboration with each other, we're trying to not only learn the content, but also improve the teaching of it in our classroom," said Nancy Witt, a history teacher at Crescenta Valley High and one of the grant's lead authors.

Federal grant money first awarded to Mark Keppel Elementary School in 2010 came to life Friday in the form of “Bugz,” a musical theater performance staged by kindergarten and first-grade students. The show saw the budding actors sporting insect costumes and acting out scenes from international folk tales about bugs. Keppel has maintained a strong tradition in the visual performing arts. It was bolstered two years ago when it received a share of a three-year, $7.5-million federal grant awarded to Glendale Unified, and was designated a visual and performing arts magnet.

The Verdugo Jobs Center will use a federal grant of about $871,000 to help find jobs for people with disabilities. More people with disabilities have expressed they want to find jobs during the ongoing recession, officials say, but some have difficulties if employers believe they can't work as well as others. The Verdugo Jobs Center, which serves Glendale, Burbank and La Cañada Flintridge, plans to use the money to recruit people with disabilities looking for work, and employers who want to hire them.

The Verdugo Jobs Center will be using a roughly $521,000-federal grant to help find jobs for people with disabilities. With the protracted recession, more people with disabilities have expressed they want to find a job, but some have difficulties if employers believe they can't work as well as others, officials say. The Verdugo Jobs Center , which serves Glendale, Burbank and La Cañada Flintridge, plans to use the money to recruit people...

Some educators show public service announcements to address bullying. At arts magnet Keppel Elementary, students are tasked with writing and producing their own. Under the leadership of art and media coach April Faieta, the school last month released a series of student-created videos aimed at educating other young people about the issue. “As a student, I hated sitting there being lectured at,” Faieta said. “My mind would often wander. I just think that kids are capable of doing so much, especially with the technology that we have, that to ask someone who is really bright to just sit there and listen to you - I just don't think that is the most effective way of teaching.” The PSAs were made possible in part by Keppel's share of a $7.5-million, three-year federal grant awarded to Glendale Unified in fall 2010.

Firefighters in Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena could soon be using new life-saving defibrillators after the coalition secured a $1.14-million federal grant.  Officials say paramedics in the three cities currently use outdated defibrillators, but the new 12-lead defibrillators capable of monitoring carbon monoxide and dioxide levels will improve patient treatment for better outcomes, according to city reports. The high-tech tools, which cost about $24,000 each, are used to deliver an electrical shock to the heart muscle in heart attack victims.

Yvonne Quinonez was well versed in the horrors of the American slave trade — the teacher covers it as part of her social studies instruction at La Crescenta Elementary School. But what she read in textbooks could not fully prepare her for a recent tour through the Deep South. “Hearing the tour guide tell us that they actually kept them in pens, and that they actually were chained, and just envisioning all of that and being in the South, it really made me almost want to cry, that we as Americans did that to them,” Quinonez said.

CITY HALL — Local nonprofits will now have a shot at roughly $850,00 in federal grants after the City Council this week opened the application period. For the 2011-12 fiscal year, Glendale is expecting to receive about $3.8 million in Community Development Block Grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Under the funding allocations approved by the City Council this week, local nonprofits will be able to apply for a cut of $515,000 for social services and $332,482 for capital improvement projects.

LA CRESCENTA — The Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition on Tuesday was awarded a major federal grant that will total $625,000 over the next five years as they work to thwart substance abuse among local teens. The Office of National Drug Control Policy selected the coalition and 168 other groups to receive the funding after determining they had show "significant reductions" in substance abuse over a 30-day period for teenagers, said the agency's spokesman, Daren Briscoe.

GLENDALE — A roughly $1-million federal grant will give Glendale Unified history teachers new access to resources, curriculum development and mentoring by UCLA history professors, officials said. The U.S. Department of Education awarded the three-year Teaching American History grant Monday, which provides Glendale Unified history teachers with a curriculum coach and access to primary documents at the archives at the Autry National Center. "With the experts at UCLA and with the collaboration with each other, we're trying to not only learn the content, but also improve the teaching of it in our classroom," said Nancy Witt, a history teacher at Crescenta Valley High and one of the grant's lead authors.

Glendale and Burbank unified school districts were awarded a combined $214,000 to expand technology in the classroom, but officials said they need much more to see any significant impact. Both districts are in a holding pattern until the remaining $37 million in federal grants can be released. If they can snag a larger share of that money, it would allow for more advanced programs, officials said. The funding is stuck in budget negotiations between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature, according to the California Department of Education.