WASHINGTON -- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo said $10 million in federal grants announced today by Vice President Al Gore for Chicago will help people move from welfare to work and teach skills that can help them retain good jobs.

Gore announced earlier today that the Chicago Housing Authority will receive $5 million and the Cook County Community and Economic Development Association will also receive $5 million in competitive Welfare-To-Work program grants.

"Helping families move from welfare to work is a sound investment," Cuomo said. "It rewards men and women who are willing to work hard to climb out of poverty under their own power. "

The Chicago Housing Authority project will focus on providing employment opportunities for public housing residents in targeted communities. Employers will be involved in all phases of the project in identifying skill needs, making hiring commitments and supporting placed participants with job retention and career placement. This project is a collaborative effort of the Housing Authority, the City of Chicago, the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development and other major partners such as the Illinois Department of Human Service, the Mayor's Office of People with Disabilities, and the Chicago Public Schools.

The Cook County Community and Economic Development Association, the nation's largest community action agency, and the Cook County President's Office of Employment and Training (POET), have formed a partnership to create the W.O.R.K.S. (Work Opportunities and Responsibility Kindle Success) program. The program ensures a comprehensive approach to unemployment by securing entry-level jobs and the services necessary to transition the hardest-to-employ welfare recipients into these jobs. The focus of the project is to find the appropriate job for the person, rather than the appropriate person for the job. The Cook County Community and Economic Development Association serves suburban Cook County.

Nationally, Gore announced $273 million in grants to 75 projects around the country from the Department of Labor. The grants, which come from $3 billion in Welfare-To-Work funds that President Clinton won in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, will go to communities in 44 states, with 61 percent for urban areas, 15 percent for rural areas, and 24 percent for areas that include both urban and rural communities.

The grants announced today are part of the Clinton Administration's welfare-to-work strategy. HUD's budget furthers the strategy by including 50,000 rental assistance vouchers for families moving from welfare to work to enable them to live closer to available jobs. Currently, about two-thirds of new jobs are being created in the suburbs, but about 75 percent of welfare recipients live in rural areas or cities.