AMERICORPS HELPS PACOIMA SPARKLE.

Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer

Members of the Building up L.A. AmeriCorps program swept and raked the streets and sidewalks near the San Fernando Gardens housing project Saturday to beautify the low-income area and improve the outlook for local residents.

The group, made up mostly of Pacoima residents and students, organized the effort as an ongoing part of the citywide Operation Sparkle program, which held a massive cleanup involving thousands of people in the San Fernando Valley in October.

Brooms, rakes and bags were donated by Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon's office, which also arranged the trash pickup Saturday, organizers said.

The event was sponsored by the Pacoima cluster group of President Clinton's AmeriCorps national service program, known as the new "domestic Peace Corps."

The group also provides after-school tutoring and literacy programs at Maclay Middle School, Pacoima Elementary School and the Community Center at the San Fernando Gardens housing project.

Their overall mission is to promote education and empowerment of youths, families and communities by developing leaders who bring together neighborhood and city resources to respond to local needs.

Shaniquequa Winn, 18, of Mission Hills spent the morning on De Foe Avenue lending a hand. "We picked up leaves, trash, cans, then we cooked food for all the people who helped," said a tired Winn.

The more than 65 participants were fed hot dogs, chips, doughnuts, soda and water at David M. Gonzalez Park after they cleaned the 10-block area bounded by San Fernando Road, Van Nuys and Glenoaks boulevards and Pierce Street.

The group will hold a bake sale Saturday to raise money for books and supplies for the local children.

The area around San Fernando Gardens has been the target of a number of recent efforts to provide new opportunities for residents to overcome problems

associated with poverty.