$17.5 million goes to benefit O.C. youths
12/21/00
Santa Ana Unified School District, the Orangewood Children's Foundation and St. Joseph's Hospital are among 45 local organizations that will share $17.5 million in tobacco-tax money doled out on Wednesday.
The grant brings to more than $40 million the amount that has been distributed to children's programs by the county's Children and Families Commission since Proposition 10 was approved by voters in 1998.
Wednesday's action included disbursements from $25,000 to more than $1 million.
"It's wonderful,'' said Gene Howard, executive director of the Orangewood Children's Foundation, which will receive $1 million.
Howard said the money will allow four community-based, family-resource centers to hire 12 staff members to help link low-income people to health services.
"It is starting to create the kind of network we have always needed in Orange County,'' he said.
Countywide the money - generated from a 50-cent- per-pack tax on cigarettes - goes toward helping at-risk children by providing medical services, family counseling and injury prevention.
Some 105 organizations vied for the money. Other major recipients include:
Orange County Pediatric Health and Medical Services Initiative, $6 million.
Orange County Injury Prevention Collaborative, $1.2 million.
St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, $1.3 million.
YMCA of Orange County, $533,211.
Santa Ana Unified School District, $509,000.
Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center, $746,507.
Southern California Alcohol and Drug Program, $843,732.
Cigarettes
