| HUD No. 00-206 | |
| Further Information: | For Release |
| In the Washington, DC area: 202/708-0685 | Tuesday |
| Or contact your local HUD office | August 8, 2000 |
HUD AWARDS $3 MILLION IN FUNDS TO ST. REGIS MOHAWK TRIBE
HOGANSBURG, N.Y. - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded two HUD grants totaling nearly $3 million to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe to build 12 single family homes and a new fire station, provide housing vouchers for 25 residents, and expand and upgrade the reservation's water system.
During his visit to Hogansburg, Cuomo also opened a new HUD-funded home for foster care children on the Akwesasne reservation and visited with tribal leaders. The Akwesasne Group Home was built with $265,000 from a previously awarded HUD Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG).
Cuomo toured the area on the second day of his three-day tour of upstate New York to promote economic growth, job creation and tourism that will also take him along the Hudson River and Canal Corridor.
"This home will give Mohawk foster teens a place to live on the reservation that will meet their very specific cultural needs," Cuomo said. "Thankfully, the home will eliminate the practice of sending young people to residential programs far away from the reservation and their families."
Chief Paul Thompson, a life long resident of Akwesasne, said: "Because of HUD's help in recent years we have seen tremendous improvements in the quality of housing and to the standards of living for Mohawk people,"
Chief Alma Ransom, said: "The St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council welcome Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo to the Mohawk community of Akwesasne. He is recognized as the son of a former Governor who is well-known and respected by the Mohawk people."
Cecilia M. Cook, Executive Director of the Akwesasne Housing Authority, which HUD has rated as a "high performer," hailed the group home as a "project that proudly represents the first of many needed community housing initiatives; it demonstrates what the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act is all about."
The Tribe will use $400,000 of today's
$1.95 million IHBG for improvements to the water system. Another $1.2 million
will go for new home construction, about $113,000 for housing vouchers,
and the balance of the grant being earmarked for maintenance and administration.
The new fire station will be constructed from a $1.04 million Disaster
Recovery Initiative Grant.
See related HUD release #00-204, about the Cornell Report, "Diversifying and Rebuilding Local Economies." The full report also is available on line at canalcorridor.html.
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