SNOWE, COLLINS ANNOUNCE $400,000 IN YOUTHBUILD FUNDING FOR MAINE

WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today announced $400,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) in Wiscasset, Maine. CEI is a nonprofit community development corporation committed to expanding economic opportunities for Maine people, businesses, and communities. The money will be used to fund a YouthBuild program in the state. "This funding will give young people in Maine a chance to give back to their communities while at the same time learning invaluable skills and finishing their education," Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement. "It will also allow more underprivileged Maine families to recognize their dream of homeownership."

The YouthBuild program enables young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 to complete their high school education and achieve on-the-job training in construction skills. Students build or renovate single-family homes and multi-family apartments, which are sold at affordable prices, to low- and very low-income persons as well as homeless individuals and families. In Maine, 3,895 students will be trained and 1,044 units of housing will be constructed or rehabilitated this year.

Both Snowe and Collins have supported efforts to increase funding for HUD's YouthBuild program. This year, they joined 51 other Senators to call on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD/Independent Agencies to increase funding for the program to $90 million for Fiscal Year 2005.

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