Tuesday, August 25, 2009
YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority has received the YouthBuild program of the year award.
The authority received the award Friday from the National Association of Resident Services in Assisted Housing — a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for public housing residents nationwide.
YouthBuild is a nine-month program, which helps low-income 18- to 24-year-olds obtain their General Educational Development diplomas, undergo life skills training and learn a skilled trade. Participants are paid with U.S. Department of Labor funds while they are enrolled in the program.
There is a YouthBuild program in every county in the country, and YMHA sponsors the Mahoning County program.
YMHA has a 70 percent YouthBuild program completion rate — the highest rate in Ohio, said Clifford Scott, YMHA director. Seventy percent of Mahoning County’s YouthBuild program participants obtain their GEDs, he added.
Sixty-seven people are enrolled in the YMHA-sponsored YouthBuild class that begins next month. Participants do not have to be public housing residents.
Scott said the authority plans to have local YouthBuild participants build houses on vacant lots in the Arlington Heights neighborhood on Youngstown’s North Side.