APARTMENT COMPLEX OFFERS SHELTER, HOPE.

Byline: Susan Goldsmith Daily News Staff Writer

Maria Alvarez, 15, was an uninspired student. The ninth-grader's long-term goal was to just hang on through high school and seek a "simple little job" upon graduating.

It wasn't until she started taking karate at the Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments a year ago that the teen started to develop the discipline and motivation to strive for more.

"I used to get C's and D's and now I'm getting A's and B's," said Alvarez, taking a breather during a recent karate class. "Now I'm planning to go to college."

Part campus, day-care center and school, Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments offers to tenants and neighbors an array of free programs - overseen by social worker-turned-apartment manager Fred Nobles.

The privately owned, publicly subsidized complex has an Aztec dance group for youngsters, a Head Start classroom, a resident Boy Scout troop, a summer field trip program, along with free karate, English and citizenship classes for residents.

"We are not about perpetuating the welfare system," said Nobles, a chatty, energetic, 55-year-old. "We're teaching residents how to do for themselves. And if you just keep trying, you break through."

From the outside, Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments looks like a typical public housing complex. Its 77 buildings containing 430 apartments are laid out in drab-looking rows along busy Van Nuys Boulevard.

Inside, the complex is immaculate, with neatly trimmed shrubs and rose bushes lining each building. Gardeners regularly stroll the grounds, picking up stray pieces of trash and trimming unruly bushes.

The heart of the complex, though, is its large recreation room above the complex's office.

There, children study karate, practice traditional Mexican dancing and meet to map out field trips. In three other classrooms in the 2,000-resident complex, adults study English and toddlers attend the Head Start program.

On a typical day last week, about 30 children waited for karate class outside the office in their black outfits and yellow belts - their mothers and younger siblings in tow. Upstairs, a handful of children danced to the pounding rhythms of a drum, practicing for an annual Aztec dance performance.

"This place is very different from other housing projects," said Patricia Herrera, a former Pierce Park resident and English student whose three children are still taking classes in the complex. "My kids are here almost every day between karate, Aztec dancing, 4-H and Boy Scouts."

Because many of the families in Pierce Park and in the surrounding neighborhood are poor, Herrera said they would be unable to pay for such opportunities.

"It would be very difficult for me to afford classes for my three kids," said Herrera, a preschool teacher. "I learned English while I was living here and it helped me a great deal."

Nobles, 55, who has a background in managing nonprofit social service organizations, says the complex has been offering classes and job training programs since 1977.

Although he has won praise from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for his innovative programs, he acknowledges that the complex faces some grim realities.

For instance, 90 percent of the families in Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments live on less than $15,455 a year - the official poverty rate for a family of four, according to Ana Alvarez, on-site administrator at the complex.

The complex, which is at 12700 Van Nuys Blvd., like the surrounding neighborhood, is plagued by serious gang problems despite an intensive community effort to make the streets safer, said Lt. Joseph Garcia of the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division.

"There are several gangs in that area," Garcia said. "We have crime that occurs throughout the whole division but at least there are programs in the Pierce Park projects to help the youth."

HUD officials, meanwhile, say Nobles' complex is remarkable even if it is not solving every problem confronting the troubled neighborhood.

"The effort Mr. Nobles has made to provide social services to that community is extraordinary," said Wendy Greuel, HUD's Southern California representative. "It is exemplary for this type of housing. . . . Our staff is very excited about it."

According to Nobles, the complex's owners - Wogo Apartments of Van Nuys - decided long ago that providing social services was an essential part of managing a public complex. To ensure the philosophy was carried out, they hired Nobles to oversee Pierce Park's day-to-day operations.

Wogo spends about $2,000 a month for the course offerings, Nobles said.

To round out the course offerings, Nobles has recruited several community organizations to participate at Pierce Park, such as one Pacoima Baptist church which now conducts English and citizenship classes.

Antonia Mercado, a five-year resident of the complex, says her youngest child has benefited tremendously from the free classes offered at Pierce Park.

"My 11-year-old daughter, Flor, is taking karate and learning discipline. She's also taking Mexican folk dancing and learning about her heritage," said Mercado, a single mother of three children. "Every hour these children spend in these classes they're doing something productive rather just hanging out on the streets."

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon would like to see every public housing manager in the Valley emulate what Nobles has done.

"It's one of the toughest public housing sites in the area and crime has historically been a problem," said Alarcon, whose district includes Pacoima. "But Fred has always had this special touch for providing human services like job training, bringing in the 4-H Club and Boy Scout troops," he said. "You don't see too many Boy Scout troops in Pacoima."

Even though crime and gang problems are proliferating in Pacoima, Nobles says he is keeping his eye on what is working, not failing.

"I see more success than I do failure," he said. "And I see more and more need to do what I am doing because of the forces pulling these kids into gangs."

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo (1--color) Cesar Alvarez, 7, attends karate class at the Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments in Pacoima. The complex offers a wide variety of free classes. Michael Owen Baker/Daily News (2) Gabrielle Aguilar pushes her children on the swings at Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments. Gardeners keep the facilities well-maintained. (3) Manager Fred Nobles, front, is credited with the success of the complex's classes. Harold Furlow is the resident property manager. David Crane/Daily News (4) Norma Montanez leads a dance class. The students give annual performances of traditional Aztec dance. Michael Owen Baker/Daily News