Appropriations Bill a Mixed Bag for Construction Training Programs - 11/29/2004 - Real Estate Education Training Schools Conferences

Appropriations Bill a Mixed Bag for Construction Training Programs

Under the Department of Labor, Job Corps, HBI’s biggest program, received a small increase to $1,546 billion, up from $1,537 billion in FY 2004.

Originally rolled into the new Prisoner Reentry Initiative in the President’s budget request, the Reintegration of Young Offenders program received level funding of $50 million for FY 2005. The Prisoner Reentry initiative received $20 million.

The Young Offender program funds HBI’s Project CRAFT/Nashville (Community Restitution Apprenticeship-Focused Training) through 2005 and will also be used for an impact study on youth recidivism. Participants in the training program will shift to students who are 18 and under from those who are 18 and older.

Project CRAFT/Nashville operates at the Davidson County Drug Court, the country’s only residential drug court and a recipient of Edward Byrne Discretionary Grant funding from the Department of Justice. Byrne Grants received $634 million in FY 05, a reduction of $40 million over FY 04.

A proposed new Community-Based Job Training Grants or Community College Initiative was fully funded at $250 million. The program will seek to improve "partnerships between the workforce investment system and community colleges to train workers for high-growth jobs." A recent award to HBI from the Department of Labor to work with community colleges and home builders associations to develop an educational continuum in the skilled trades will help pave the way for the new program.

Finally, the Youthbuild program was cut by $4 million, from $65 million in FY 2004 to $61 million. HUD recently awarded HBI a one-year grant to provide technical assistance to Youthbuild programs.

To read the approriations bill, click here and enter H.R. 4818 in the box at the upper left.

For further information, e-mail Maria McIntyre at HBI, or call her at 800-795-7955 x8912 or contact Jenna Morgan Hamilton in NAHB's Legislative and Political Relations, 800-8368-5242 x8407.