Santa Ana commission hears CDBG presentations from a dozen local nonprofits

SANTA ANA — The Santa Ana Community Development Commission devoted its Feb. 25 meeting to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applicant presentations, hearing proposals from a broad set of local nonprofits that requested funding for services targeting youth, families, mental health, literacy and homelessness.

Commissioners opened the meeting, approved a consent calendar by roll call and then heard presentations from organizations including Mosaic Movement, RISE youth program, Neutral Ground (Nati's House), Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center, Perentis Foundation (Empowering Readers), Project Hope Alliance, Straight Talk Clinic, Hope Builders, Cambodian Family and Wise Place. Each presenter described program activities, target populations and the metrics they would use to measure service outcomes.

Mosaic Movement CEO Yvette Willoughby urged commissioners to support a "Lifeline Initiative" focused on families raising neurodivergent children, saying Mosaic served ‘‘over 8,000 families’’ across its programs and proposed serving 40 Santa Ana families with therapy, family navigation and support groups. Grace Claudio, executive director of RISE, described a high-dosage after-school martial-arts mentorship program operating Monday–Friday, 3–6 p.m., that the group said would serve 40–50 Santa Ana youth and use 90‑day and annual assessments to track progress. Neutral Ground presenters emphasized decades of gang‑prevention work and described Summer Night Lights community events at El Salvador Park they said reduced calls for service and graffiti.

Several presenters supplied program-specific data during Q&A: Project Hope Alliance reported serving 84 youth last year (exceeding a 60-student goal) and cited an Orange County Department of Education figure of 7,746 students experiencing homelessness in Santa Ana; Perentis Foundation described one-on-one tutoring that it said produced substantial gains in reading fluency on school-provided measures; Wise Place CEO Bertil Agassi said his agency planned to serve 20 unduplicated Santa Ana residents at a $4,000-per-person average cost and highlighted shelter-to-housing outcomes.

Commissioners asked applicants about metrics, partnerships, locations and other implementation details; presenters generally cited school partnerships, city collaborations and existing MOUs. No formal CDBG funding decisions or roll-call allocations were recorded at the Feb. 25 session; staff and commissioners discussed logistics for the grant-review schedule and presentation time frames before adjourning.

The commission’s next special meeting is scheduled for March 11.