HUD ANNOUNCES $2.8 MILLION TO FOUR NEW JERSEY PROGRAMS - HUNDREDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO GET A NEW START IN LIFE
Four grants to New Jersey youth programs will create affordable housing

NEWARK - Approximately 310 low-income young people in New Jersey will return to school and begin new careers in the homebuilding trades because of $2.8 million in grants announced today by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson. Four grants to New Jersey 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.

Episcopal Community Development, Inc. in Newark; the Housing Authority of the City of Camden; Isles Incorporated
in Trenton; and NJ Community Development Corporation in Paterson will each receive $700,000 grants from HUD.
The grants are part of more than $58 million in funding awarded nationwide through HUD's Youthbuild Program.

"These grants will help young people to earn their high school diplomas and open the door to their economic
futures," said Jackson. "This is a win-win program since these young people learn high-demand job skills while producing affordable homes in their own communities."

Young people who enroll in local Youthbuild programs lack high school diplomas and the job skills necessary to find meaningful employment. The funding announced today 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 that
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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NOTE: The following New Jersey organizations are awarded funding through HUD's Youthbuild Program:

Episcopal Community Development, Inc., will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $700,000. The grant
will enable Episcopal Community Dev., Inc. to train 50 youth and to construct nine (9) new houses. Major partners are: Apostles' House, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Juvenile Intensive Supervision Program, and Covenant House.

The Housing Authority of the City of Camden will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $700,000. The
grant will enable the Housing Authority of the City of Camden to train 65 youth and to rehabilitate ten (10) houses.

Isles Incorporated of Trenton , NJ will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $700,000. The grant will enable Isles Incorporated to train 125 youth and to construct two new houses. Major partners include: NJ Juvenile Justice Commission, City of Trenton , Daylight/Twilight High School, and the Department of Labor and JHA.

NJ Community Development Corporation will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $700,000. The grant
will enable NJ Community Development Corp. to train 70 youth and to rehabilitate 25 houses. Major partners are: Patterson Housing Authority and Americorps.