News Release

Information by State  Print version

HUD Announces $1.1 Million To Help Young People In Columbia And Montgomery County Get A New Start In Life
Two youth program grants will help create affordable housing

HUD representative James Heard presents ceremonial check to the City of Columbia and Job Point, Inc.

ST. LOUIS – One hundred low-income young people in the Columbia and Montgomery County Areas will return to school and begin new careers in the homebuilding trades due to $1.1 million in grants announced today by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The grants are part of more than $58 million in funding awarded nationwide through HUD's Youthbuild Program and will offer job training and leadership skills to area young people while putting them back on a path toward graduation. These grants will also help train them for a future in the construction trades while producing five homes for lower income families, many facing homelessness.

Participants and audience reciting the Youthbuild Pledge at the grant announcement event in Columbia, Missouri.

“I'm thrilled that HUD can play such an important role in helping these young people earn their high school diplomas while introducing them to high-demand skills that will ensure their economic futures,” said HUD St. Louis Field Office Director James Heard who was in Columbia to make the grant announcements. “This is a win-win program since the young people will use the construction skills learned to produce more affordable housing for low income families in Columbia and Montgomery County, Missouri.”

The two Youthbuild grants announced today were awarded to Job Point. The first grant, in the amount of $400,000, will enable Job Point to train 28 youth and construct two houses. Major partners in this program are East Central College's Adult Education and Literacy program, North East Community Action Corporation, Youth in Need, University Extension, Montgomery County Community Health Improvement Project and Montgomery County Ministerial Alliance.

The second grant, in the amount of $700,000 will enable Job Point to train 72 youth and to construct three new houses. Major partners in this program are Columbia Public Schools' Adult Education and Literacy Program, Central Missouri Counties' Human Development Corporation and Woodcrest Chapel.

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, 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.