HUD ANNOUNCES $1.1 MILLION TO TWO INDIANA PROGRAMS - APPROXIMATELY 50 YOUNG PEOPLE TO GET NEW START IN LIFE
Gary and Evansville youth will begin careers building affordable housing

CHICAGO - Approximately 50 low-income young people in Indiana will return to school and begin new careers in the homebuilding trades because of $1.1 million in grants announced today by Joseph P. Galvan, HUD Regional Director
for the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin). Two grants to Indiana programs will
help these young people graduate high school, train them for a future in the construction trades and will produce affordable homes for lower income families, many facing homelessness.

New Life Youth Development Corporation (Gary) will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $400,000. The grant will enable New Life Youth Development Corporation to train 25 youth between the ages of 16-24 and to rehabilitate 11 units of housing in an effort to make communities more livable and to assist in ending chronic homelessness. Some of the partners assisting this applicant are, the Treasure's Child Center, the Portage Adult Center, the Tree of Life Community Development Corporation, and Youthbuild USA.

The Housing Authority of the City of Evansville will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $700,000. The grant will enable The Housing Authority of the city of Evansville to train 24 youth between the ages of 16-24 and to rehabilitate at least 100 units of existing housing in Evansville that is associated with the City's Front Door Pride program. Some of the participants in this project will be River Outreach Ministry, the Career Choice, Inc., the Associated Builders and Contractors, Our Great Community organization and Community Action Program.

"These programs gives new hope to high school dropouts, enabling them to build housing for families in need while building new careers and new lives for themselves," Galvan said. "Through these non-profit organizations, the Youthbuild Program is helping young people work their way out of poverty. These students produce affordable
housing in their communities while they gain a skill, a GED, a job and a new lease on life."

Nationwide, the $45.5 million in Youthbuild grants announced by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson (see chart at end of release) will offer job training and leadership skills to an estimated 3,075 young people. Young people who drop out of high school face a lifetime of underemployment and can be at higher risk of homelessness. However, thousands of these "at-risk" young people are looking forward to graduation and careers in homebuilding because of Youthbuild grants that will help these students, ages 16-to-24, to earn their high school diplomas and train them for a future in the construction trades while producing 702 homes for lower income families, many facing homelessness.

Jackson said, "With a modest investment by HUD, we can help these young people graduate high school, start them on a new career path, and create more affordable homes for families who might otherwise be living on our streets."

Today's announcement marks a transition of the Youthbuild program from HUD to the Department of Labor. This transfer represents the fulfillment of a 2003 White House Task Force Report on Disadvantaged Youth and resulted in the passage of The Youthbuild Transfer Act, signed by President Bush in September.

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, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
and espanol.hud.gov. For more information about FHA products, please visit www.fha.gov.

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NOTE: Contacts for the Indiana grantees awarded funding through HUD's Youthbuild Program:

FISCAL YEAR 2006 YOUTHBUILD GRANT AWARDS

NOTE: Detailed State-by-State breakdown of individual grant recipients is available on the HUD website.