Burbank Leader, CA
April 28, 2007

Group gets grant, but not an apology

Committee chair reads a statement that calls reference to society’s
name unfortunate, awards it $7,500 in funds.

By Chris Wiebe

CITY HALL – A bulk of the nonprofit groups that applied for Community
Development Block Grant funds came away from Tuesday’s City Council
meeting reasonably happy, but not the Armenian Relief Society.

The chairman of the Community Development Goals Committee read
a prepared statement Tuesday calling comments that some felt were
anti-Armenian in nature that were expressed during a committee meeting
"unfortunate" – but not offering an apology.

The committee, tasked with making recommendations to the council
regarding dispensation of block grant funds, took heat this month over
allegations that during a meeting, some committee members suggested
that the Armenian Relief Society would be more likely to receive
funding if the organization removed "Armenian" from its name.

The Armenian Relief Society provides assistance to immigrants and
refugees to the United States and was one of more than a dozen local
agencies requesting public funds Tuesday.

Responding to the allegations for the first time in a public forum,
committee chairman Kirk Bowren read a letter to the council on behalf
of the committee.

"Questions and comments were made in reference to the connotation
of the Armenian Relief Society name, but only in the context of the
universality of services and whether or not the name alone would
tend to limit its clientele and attract only given segments of the
community," he said. "No condition or other funding prerequisite was
intended or meant by any question or comment."

But the statement did not satisfy some Armenian community members in
attendance Tuesday, who noted that the committee’s recommendations
included reduced funding for the relief society this year.

"I did hear the chairperson of that committee speak and I appreciate
those comments," said Shant Minas, a Burbank resident who was speaking
on behalf of the Armenian National Committee Burbank Chapter. "However,
it did sound like he was trying to paint what was said at some of
those meetings – some of those slighting comments and sentiments –
in a different light and make it sound like we were taking words out
of context."

Some committee members had voiced reservations about handing
over public funds to an organization that identifies itself with a
particular ethnicity or religion – a sentiment maintained by Councilman
Dave Golonski.

"I would recommend … reducing the funding for the Armenian Relief
Society to zero," Golonski said, before the council decided on this
year’s funding amounts. "And I fully respect and understand the work
that the Armenian Relief Society does. But I can’t support public
funding for them because I don’t believe that they are as inclusive
as they need to be to justify the public funding…. I think that
when we go down the path of funding ethic-centric relief groups,
if we do it for one, we’re going to have to do it for all."

The goals committee recommended a $5,000 disbursement for the relief
society this year, but the council sided with the recommendation of
the city’s executive staff, awarding the nonprofit $7,500.

"I concur with the executive staff recommendation on the Armenian
Relief Society, when we recognize that somewhere in the vicinity
of 20% of our population has some Armenian relationship or descent,
or is part of the Armenian community," Councilman Jef Vander Borght
said. "This is a portion of the Burbank community that needs to have
funds allocated and they are performing services that go directly to
provide help for those members who live in Burbank and are residents of
Burbank…. They’re primarily of Armenian descent, but it is certainly
not an exclusionary entity and I believe that it’s a service that
has got to be provided."

Armenian Relief Society officials have maintained that a significant
portion of the organization’s clients are non-Armenian and that the
organization provides assistance in several languages, including
Russian, French, Farsi and Arabic.

Of the $202,606 in block grant funding available for public service
agencies this year, the Burbank Unified School District received the
most money, with $48,000, which was on par with last year’s figure.

The Family Services Agency, which provides social services to
low-income families, was awarded $32,500, slightly more than the
$30,000 the organization received in 2006.

The Boys and Girls’ Club of Burbank received $20,000, down from
$23,168 from last year.

"The city has been very generous to us over the years," said Shanna
Warren, executive director of the Burbank Boy and Girls Club. "It’s
a little bit less than we got last year, but I understand that that
sometimes happens. And the funding that we got will be used for our
after-school programs at Miller and Emerson elementary, as well as our
deaf and hard-of-hearing program, which serves kids from Washington
[Elementary School], Muir [Middle School] and Burbank High."

The Burbank Temporary Aid Center received $32,106, about $4,000 more
than the organization received last year.

The Salvation Army received $13,500, about $3,000 less than last year.

BCR A place to grow, formerly the Burbank Center for the Retarded,
received $9,000, the same amount that the non-profit received in 2006;
the Burbank YMCA also received the same grant funding as in 2006,
with $10,000.

The Library Department’s literacy program received $3,000 and the
Burbank Noon Lions was given $2,000, both of which were identical to
the organizations’ grant funding in 2006.

CHRIS WIEBE covers City Hall and the courts. He may be reached at
(818) 637-3242 or by e-mail at chris.wiebelatimes.com.