TURNING TO PRIVATE SOURCES COLLEGES LOOKING TO NEW FUNDING.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Walloped by soaring construction costs and tight budgets, San Fernando Valley community colleges have turned to private corporations, foundations, wealthy alumni and philanthropists to help fund everything from equestrian arenas to performing arts centers.

``Naming rights'' - previously seen only at big-name, four-year universities - are now being offered by community colleges whose officials say even two voter-approved bond issues do not provide enough money to meet their ambitious plans.

``It's a reflection of two things: a growing recognition on the part of donors of how important community colleges are, but also a growing effort on the part of the colleges to be more aggressive at seeking the donations,'' said Robert Turnage, state vice chancellor for fiscal policy for community colleges.

``It's a recognition that they can't afford to just rely on what the government gives them.''

Faced with sharp state funding cuts, community colleges have become more savvy about raising money from other sources, said Norma Kent, vice president of communications for the American Association of Community Colleges.

They are seeking - and sometimes getting - million- and multimillion- dollar donations from corporations that have long recognized the colleges as a good source for trained workers, she said.

Those supplement money from voter-approved bond issues - such as the Los Angeles Community College's $2.2 billion Proposition A/AA measures passed in 2001 and 2003.

Los Angeles Valley College will name its $24 million, 104,500- square-foot library for Robert Hertzberg, the former California Assembly speaker who represented the area and is now running for Los Angeles City mayor. Hertzberg donated $100,000 personally and has pledged to lead a $1 million endowment campaign for the library, expected to be completed in 2007.

Hertzberg, whose mother and brother are Los Angeles City College graduates, said he initially opposed having the building named after him.

``I'm not an egomaniac, I'm not dead yet, I'm not old enough,'' said Hertzberg, 50. ``But I realized I could make a statement about community colleges.

``In the old days, you got a job, kept it for 40 years, got a gold watch and you retired. Today, the average job is seven years, and you have to go back to school over and over again. I call (community colleges) the classrooms of the new economy.

``People write all these big checks to the private universities and other big colleges, instead of going out and raising money for a university that has a billion dollars in endowment.''

College of the Canyons' newly opened Vital Express Center for the Performing Arts was named for a $2 million donor, Vital Express, a Santa Clarita delivery company.

At Pierce College, officials are seeking to raise $2 million for an agricultural education center which will provide farm tours for public-school students; $3.8 million for an art gallery; $200,000 for a new vineyard; $6 million for an equestrian event center; and $1 million for new planetarium equipment for the astronomy program.

Some of the projects, such as the vineyard, have always been slated for private funding, but the art gallery and other projects were pushed off the bond project list by high construction costs.

Mission College's building campaign has been slowed by the glacial process of negotiations in a three-way land swap between the college, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Los Angeles County. Its next Proposition A/AA-funded building, a parking garage, isn't glamorous enough to inspire any fistfights over naming rights.

But Gary Bombalicki, president of the L.A. Mission College Foundation, said there are several other buildings, including a media arts center and a culinary arts building, that could benefit from donations for furnishings and equipment.

Four-year universities usually have strong foundations and are more aggressive about fund raising, but some are more established than others.

UCLA has 47 staff members in alumni relations, while California State University, Northridge has four.

``Both the community colleges and the CSUs have some catching up to do,'' said Gray Mounger, CSUN's assistant vice president for alumni relations.

CSUN will soon be seeking at least $50 million in donations for a $100 million performing arts center. The institution received its largest-ever donation, a $38 million gift of Chinese antiquities, in 2003.

Local community college foundations often go back 30 years or more, but have skeletal staff that deal with both alumni relations and other fund- raising avenues.

Valley College's foundation, established in 1971, consists of Raul Castillo, executive director, and an assistant.

Mission College's foundation doesn't even have a single paid staff member, Bombalicki said. The foundation's main role, until recently, has been to just fund scholarships for needy students and find additional money to keep the library open a few more hours a day.

Pierce College's Foundation is made up of Joyce Woodford, foundation development officer, and two part-time assistants. Its budget is only $75,000, and in past years, the annual fund-raising goal was a mere $300,000.

That's changing, as the foundation recently increased its volunteer board of directors from four members to 15, adding such community leaders as Judge Harry Pregerson, from the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, and Karl Boeckmann, vice president of Galpin Ford.

Boeckmann, a Pierce benefactor, also is a graduate of Glendale Community College and the University of Southern California.

``That gave me a fondness for (community colleges),'' Boeckmann said, ``and I saw the benefits of junior college. I couldn't have afforded to go to USC for four years.''

Another fund-raising hurdle to overcome is the fact that many community college alumni tend to identify with the four-year school where they finished their degree, not with the community college at which they started.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Linda Howell of Tarzana rides her horse, Girl, at Pierce College. The college is seeking $6 million for an equestrian event center. Private funding also is being sought for other projects.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer