HUD'S YOUTHBUILD PROGRAM DELIVERS $54 MILLION FOR SKILLS AND LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Grants to Madison and Racine, Wisconsin total $967,431

WASHINGTON - Forty-eight Wisconsin young people who never finished high school will get a second chance to receive their diplomas because of $967,431 in grants 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 four homes for lower income families, many facing homelessness.

"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."

Operation Fresh Start, Inc. in Madison will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $269,794. The grant will enable Operation Fresh Start, Inc. to train 20 youth and construct one home. Major partners include: the Community Development Authority; the Community Development Block Grant Office for the City of Madison; Habitat for Humanity; Wells Fargo Bank; the United Way of Dane County; and, the Dane County Department of Human Services.

OIC of Racine County, Inc. will receive a Youthbuild grant in the amount of $697,637. The grant will enable OIC of Racine County, Inc. to train 28 youth and construct three houses. Major partners include: the Racine Housing and Neighborhood Partnership.

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.

"Youthbuild shows young people how to build new homes for people in need, and new lives for themselves," said Joseph P. Galvan, HUD Regional Director for the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. "This program unlocks the door to success and a good job for young people left behind."

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.