YouthBuild lands $1.1M federal grant

SEN. JACK REED addresses students and trainees from YouthBuild Providence at the YouthBuild Technical Training Center on Manton Avenue in Providence.  Reed announced Monday that YouthBuild Providence has received a $1.1 million federal grant. / COURTESY YOUTHBUILD PROVIDENCE
SEN. JACK REED addresses students and trainees from YouthBuild Providence at the YouthBuild Technical Training Center on Manton Avenue in Providence. Reed announced Monday that YouthBuild Providence has received a $1.1 million federal grant. / COURTESY YOUTHBUILD PROVIDENCE

PROVIDENCE – YouthBuild Providence, a community organization that readies at-risk youth for the workforce, has received $1.1 million in federal funding, the office of Sen. Jack Reed announced Monday.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Labor will be paired with roughly $760,000 in leveraging and matching, and it will primarily fund the training and work of 64 YouthBuild participants over the course of two years.
YouthBuild, a component of the Providence Plan, offers 18 to 24-year-olds who dropped out of high school the opportunity to earn a high school diploma or GED while working on public housing and other construction projects. The work enables them to move onto college or into the workforce with a set of industry credentials.
YouthBuild’s high school diploma program is a new partnership with the Providence Public School District, so the grant “comes at an ideal time,” Patrick McGuigan, executive director of the Providence Plan, said in a statement.
Reed and Mayor Angel Taveras announced the grant at a visit Monday to the YouthBuild construction training site.
“This is truly a model program that makes a real difference for young people and strengthens Rhode Island’s workforce,” Reed said in a statement. “This federal investment will help YouthBuild Providence expand its reach.” Reed sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees Labor Department federal funding.

No posts to display