The California Endowment will give $31 million to fund health care and housing programs for farm workers in the state's Great Central Valley, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The funds are provided as a $20 million no-interest loan and $11 million in grants. This is believed to be the largest non-governmental farm worker assistance grant in U.S. history, the Times reports.

The money will be given to the nonprofit, Sacramento-based Rural Community Assistance Corp., which will administer the housing and health care programs.

Most of the money will be used to build up to 1,000 single-family houses, primarily in the San Joaquin Valley. The housing funds will be distributed annually over the next three years. The remaining money will pay for clinics and health care workers.

The first houses and clinic should open by 2000. Self-Help Enterprises will be the housing contractor.

Two-thirds of California's estimated 1.2 million farm laborers are now permanent residents of the state. Their average annual incomes are less than $10,000.

The Woodland Hills, Calif.-based endowment was created three years ago as part of the conversion by Blue Cross of California to a for-profit company. The foundation has an endowment of $2.4 billion. It primarily funds health care projects.

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