By Kate Day

The Los Altos School District unanimously approved a 10 percent funding increase for the Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) at its April 17 meeting. The organization will receive $27,192 this year.

CHAC’s executive director, Monique Kane, said she was delighted. “The extra money will enable us to enhance our programs in the schools and help to pay stipends for our interns.”

CHAC was formed in 1973 by a group of parents and community leaders concerned about the growing problem of adolescent alcohol and drug abuse in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. The organization has expanded since then and now provides a range of living-skills programs and individual counseling in local schools and at the CHAC counseling center in Mountain View.

David Pefley, who serves as a board member for LASD and CHAC, said, “In dollar terms this increase is a small amount, but it can make a huge difference, especially in an organization that is run as efficiently and leanly as CHAC.

“Money is always difficult in a school district, and you try to manage things as carefully as you can, but school districts can’t afford to give too much. Los Altos currently gives a lot less than the other school districts,” he added. “But CHAC does so much for so many people.”

Past CHAC requests for increased funding from the school district have been denied. The original partnership between the city governments and their respective school districts, known as the Joint Powers Agreement, provided CHAC’s entire $40,000 annual budget in 1973. Joint Powers Agencies now contribute 13 percent of the organization’s funds. The majority of the program funds are raised through individual donations and from corporations, local businesses, Santa Clara County, churches and foundations.

Kane said the demand for CHAC’s services has grown dramatically. “There are different problems in different decades, but there is a lot of societal stress now,” she said. “We see a lot of problems arising from immigrant populations struggling to make it, gang participation and alcohol abuse.”

CHAC now provides counseling in 23 elementary, middle and high schools. More than 50 graduate interns donate their time to provide counseling each year, with at least one intern assigned to each school. CHAC also provides parenting classes, conflict resolution training and art therapy.

For more information, visit www.chacmv.org.