Agency Helps Immigrants Non-Profits Best Community or Education Group: El Proyecto del Barrio By SLAV KANDYBA Staff Reporter Two years ago about this time, Los Angeles County supervisors mandated that the county-funded health clinic at Kennedy High School in Granada Hills be shut down and it was, to the disappointment of many low-income parents. But nine months later the clinic opened its doors, and began offering medical services to kids from birth to 18, including screening for HIV/AIDS and family-planning counseling. How did the clinic go from having its budget wiped out to operational status? Simple. El Proyecto del Barrio. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1971, was approached by Kaiser Permanente to help facilitate the clinic’s reopening. El Proyecto already ran health clinics at Lawrence and Columbus Middle Schools and Kaiser asked if El Proyecto could help out with Kennedy High as well. It responded by sending a receptionist and a medical assistant. Kaiser sent medical residents to help out, said Susan Ng, manager of community and government relations. The partnership was beneficial to all parties, and Kaiser chose El Proyecto because of its reputation as a “great organization,” Ng said. “I think El Proyecto is very community minded (and) culturally sensitive,” Ng said, adding Kaiser works with about 10 health clinics all together. Needless to say, LAUSD officials were thrilled when Kennedy High clinic reopened with help from two organizations, not just one. “We’ve been very fortunate to have a true collaborative,” said Janis Lake, the L.A. Unified School District organization facilitator who oversees Kennedy High and the two middle schools, which belong to District 1. El Proyecto, which is directed by former City Council candidate Corinne Sanchez, is indispensable to the community that it serves: recent immigrants from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. As that community has expanded over the years, El Proyecto has taken heed and expanded its service offerings. It opened locations in Arleta and Reseda and even in the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles. El Proyecto’s history hasn’t been without some problems. The organization was involved in a series of financial disputes with the city dating back to 1999. One of those included allegedly overcharging about $276,000 for rents, while another involved more than $70,000 in unauthorized payments. In 1999, president and CEO Corinne Sanchez took a leave of absence to run for the City Council seat, but she eventually lost to Alex Padilla and returned to managing the non-profit. Also that year, El Proyecto opened the doors to a new community health service center that replaced the one destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The facility, at 20800 Sherman Way in Winnetka, is named S. Mark Taper Foundation Center for a Healthy Community and cost $6.2 million to build. Within more than 28,000 feet of space on three floors it has medical offices, a lab, a pharmacy and an X-ray section.
