Community: Going to work at Linden House

Employees of Viacom celebrated a day of giving back to the community by adding their creative touches to Linden House, a transitional facility for young adults run by the Family Service Agency of Burbank.

Viacommunity Day is an annual event that brings together employees from the companies under the Viacom umbrella, including Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank and Nickelodeon Games in Glendale, VH1 and Comedy Central, said Carson Smith, human resources manager at Nickelodeon in Burbank. The cost of materials is covered by Viacom.

“One day a year we go out in the community and do something good,” Smith said. “It is an opportunity to reach out in the community, where we work and many of us live, to help.”

So on April 20, a team of more than 25 employees got an early start to work their magic at Linden House.

Emily Asaro, a production assistant who works on “Dora the Explorer,” was working on a mural on the walls in the garage, which will become a workout and social area. The abstract design was created by employee George Nachev. Storyboard artist Ysty Veluz liked the colors in the design — olive, gray-blue and flesh tones, with white intersecting lines.

Linden House is a partnership between the Family Service Agency and the Burbank Housing Corp., said Judith Arandes, executive director of the city's housing corporation.

“We buy neglected properties and we rehabilitate them,” she said. “As a nonprofit, we get good loans from the city of Burbank and that enables us to keep the rents low and rent them to lower-income families.”

Seven years ago, the corporation started a partnership with the Family Service Agency to create living spaces for special-needs populations. The first project was CARE Cottages, which provide housing for women and children who were victims of domestic violence. The second joint venture was Home Front Project, a residential program for homeless families.

Linden House is a transitional home for young adults, ages 14 to 24, who are homeless, at risk of being homeless, and/or have aged out of the foster-care system. At Linden House they receive counseling through the Family Service Agency and are given the tools they need to become self-sufficient.

Within six months of moving in, they must have found a part-time job and be in school fulltime or in some career/job training program, said Laurie Bleick, executive director of the Family Service Agency.