Federal Grant to Provide Job Training

With the help of a new $60,000 grant awarded to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Urban Affairs, North Titusville and Oakwood Place youths can learn to build houses, receive group counseling and obtain other assistance.

Posted on February 20, 2001 at 1:08 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — With the help of a new $60,000 grant awarded to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Urban Affairs, North Titusville and Oakwood Place youths can learn to build houses, receive group counseling and obtain other assistance.

The Jefferson County Workforce Investment Board awarded UAB the grant through the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Workforce Investment Act is designed to improve, consolidate and coordinate employment training, literacy and vocational rehabilitation programs in the United States.

UAB was one of two recipients in Jefferson County to receive the grants. The other recipient was the World of Opportunity job training program sponsored by the Be an Apostle for Christ Program. The UAB Center for Urban Affairs will use the funds for its HousingPlus Job Training program, which trains out-of-school youths and adults to build new housing and rehabilitate existing ones in Titusville and West End.

Under the new grant, the 12 trainees must live in North Titusville or Oakwood Place neighborhoods. They will work 30 hours a week for an hourly wage during the 18-week program. The grant also provides for a caseworker from the UAB Social Work Program who will monitor the trainees’ progress in the program. HousingPlus trainees also will attend group counseling twice a month with the caseworker and they will continue group counseling for six months after graduation.

“Many of the [trainees] have special needs that we have not been able to address before,” said Betty Bock, M.A., a program coordinator with the Center. “Some of the students in the class are single moms who have difficulty getting childcare.

“Transportation is a problem for others. Most don’t have good employment track records. This way we can determine their needs and help them obtain employment after they complete the program.”

The HousingPlus Program was created with a $750,000 Fannie Mae Foundation grant to UAB. Of the 64 universities competing for the funds, UAB and Pratt Institute of New York tied for the most money awarded in the Fannie Mae Foundation’s 1998 University-Community Partnership Program. UAB’s funding was dedicated to the Titusville and West End.