Hud Releases $58 Million To Train Youth In Construction Trades
Thousands of low-income young people will return to school and begin new careers in the homebuilding trades because of $58 million in grants announced by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD). The grants are part of HUD’s Youthbuild Program to offer job training and leadership skills to an estimated 4,300 young people while putting them back on a path toward graduation. The grants will also help train them for a future in the construction trades while producing nearly 2,000 homes for lower income families, many facing homelessness.
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; 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.
