Staff volunteers at cash-strapped center for people who cannot hear

Mario Huerta, who teaches English at the Center for Communicative Development in Koreatown, has been working for half pay. He's feeling the financial strain, he said, but "I'm willing to give up a check to keep this school open." (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times / November 3, 2009)

A Los Angeles school that teaches American Sign Language and English-literacy skills to people who cannot hear is relying on members of its staff to volunteer to keep instruction going as state funding has been delayed and private donations have fallen victim to the economic recession. "I'm willing to give up a check to keep this school open," said one of the school's English instructors. The center, which receives state funding for about half its $550,000 budget, says its financial troubles should ease as soon as the state resumes payments to disability service providers. Los Angeles Times