HUD'S YOUTHBUILD PROGRAM DELIVERS $54 MILLION FOR SKILLS AND LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Alaska's Southeast Alaska Guidance Association to receive $677,200

ANCHORAGE - Thirty-two Alaska Native youth who never finished high school will get a second chance to receive
their diplomas because of a $677,200 grant awarded to Southeast Alaska Guidance Association. The grant was announced today by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson. The grants are part of $54 million HUD is awarding through its Youthbuild Program to offer job training and leadership skills to young people while
putting them back on a path toward graduation.

These grants will help train them for a future in the construction trades while producing two single-family homes for lower income families in Juneau. The program is called Young Alaskans Building Affordable Housing (YABAH), and their major partners include: Tlingit and Haida Regional Housing Authority, Southeast Regional Resource Center, Tlingit
and Haida Tribal Central Council, and the Alaska Works Partnership, Inc.

"This funding will offer hope and opportunity to young men and women across the country," said Jackson.
"Youthbuild enables them to return to the classroom, acquire construction skills and put their minds and hands to
work producing more affordable housing in their own communities."

"This grant will extend SAGA's partnership with affordable housing and employment partners in Juneau," said HUD's Field Office Director Colleen Bickford, "and will produce both skilled builders and affordable homes for low-income families."

"The Youthbuild funding provides an incredible opportunity for some of our most disconnected young people to turn their lives around," said Joe Parrish, executive director of South East Guidance Association. "They work as a team to build much needed affordable homes, complete their GEDs, and upon graduation, they have guaranteed jobs in the construction field, one of Alaska's fastest growing industries. That is an amazing turnaround for these young people and represents the combined efforts of key agencies and organizations in Alaska."

Young people who enroll in local Youthbuild programs lack high school diplomas and the job skills necessary to find meaningful employment. This funding will help young men and women, ages 16-to-24, to receive their high school equivalency diplomas and provide them training in homebuilding skills that will qualify them for careers in the building industry.

Program participants will receive on-the-job training in the building trades and help build and renovate homes tha
t are then sold at affordable prices to low- and very low-income persons as well as to homeless individuals and families. In addition, these grants are anticipated to generate millions of additional dollars from other public and private sources.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development as well as enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet and espanol.hud.gov.

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