HUD ANNOUNCES $399,309 TO ELIZABETHTON, TENNESSEE - DOZENS OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO GET A NEW START IN LIFE
Grant to Carter County youth programs will create affordable housing

KNOXVILLE - Approximately 27 low-income young people in Carter County will return to school and begin new careers in the homebuilding trades because of $1.2 million in grants announced today by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson. These grants help young people graduate high school, train for a future in the construction trades, and produces affordable homes for lower income families, many facing homelessness. The
Alliance for Business & Training, located on Highway 91 in Elizabethton, Tennessee, will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $399,309 that will enable that agency to train 27 youth and to construct and rehabilitate two (2) houses in Elizabethton, Carter County. Partners in the Alliance include:

Northeast Tennessee Career Centers
Northeast Tennessee Youth Council
Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton
Northeast State Community College

"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 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
at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

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