Dear Editor,
I just read Serdar Tumgoren’s story headlined
”
$125,000 granted, but …
”
in the April 6 edition of The Dispatch and write to offer
important clarification on comments that Silicon Valley Independent
Living Center grant request was inappropriate.
Dear Editor,
I just read Serdar Tumgoren’s story headlined “$125,000 granted, but …” in the April 6 edition of The Dispatch and write to offer important clarification on comments that Silicon Valley Independent Living Center grant request was inappropriate.
First of all, SVILC’s request of $4,320 from the City of Gilroy’s CDBG pool for public service was specifically to copy and distribute a housing training video that had already been created. The video represents an easy-to-comprehend medium, and provides information on the various issues pertaining to housing acquisition and retention. Housing services are a demonstrated need for Gilroy residents, and the funding thus allows for increased dissemination of valuable information.
Second, the cost of creating the film was less than $6,000, and it is unclear why City Councilman Bob Dillon was quoted as stating the film had a budget of $88,000.
On behalf of the board, staff and consumers of Silicon Valley Independent Living Center, I thank the city staff for their recommendations and applaud the Gilroy City Council for making the important decision to fund SVILC’s project.
Serving persons with disabilities since 1976 in Santa Clara County and since 1997 in Gilroy, SVILC is the only organization in Gilroy that specializes in meeting the unique needs of persons with a broad range of disabilities. More than 15 percent of Gilroy residents are persons with disabilities. CDBG funds will therefore assist SVILC in meeting a critical independent living need for a significant population in the city of Gilroy.
Shobha T. Srinivasan, Director of Development, Silicon Valley Independent Living Center
Editor’s Note: On the city’s funding request form, SVILC listed $66,800 (apparently a typo) as the total project costs for the video. Councilman Dillon questioned the grant request based on that number, though he mistakenly used the figure from another project’s total cost.
