HUD Helps Religious Organizations To Operate Properties by Lew Sichelman The amount of federal housing assistance administered by religious-based groups will top $1 billion during the next fiscal year, thanks, in part, to two new initiatives announced recently by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Faith-based organizations are the eyes and ears, hearts and souls of the communities HUD serves," Sec. Andrew Cuomo said at a conference at the Riverside Side Church in New York City, where about 600 members of the clergy and leaders of not-for-profit organizations from throughout the Northeast came to learn more about what Uncle Sam can do to meet the needs of their communities. "Again and again," the secretary said, religious groups "have proven themselves to be effective and innovative partner's in HUD's efforts to expand the supply of affordable housing, create jobs, help businesses grow and revitalize neighborhoods." Under one of the new programs, the department will award $10 million in partnership development grants in at least 20 cities to help faith-based organizations help families find and keep homes. Under the other, inner-city workers will be taught the skills necessary to bridge the digital gap that divides low and moderate-income families from the rest of society. The grants will be used to familiarize the groups with the Section 8 rental assistance voucher program, help them promote the government's fair housing requirements, allow them to provide rental and ownership counseling and encourage landlords to rent their units to families who qualify for the vouchers. Particular attention will be paid to organizations that are working with families who are using Section 8 to move out of public housing complexes that are being transferred to a federal revitalization program. To teach inner-city residents computer skills, HUD will help fund ten community-based Cisco Networking Academies. Normally, these academies have been located in schools. But the HUD-fostered program will be located in public and assisted-housing complexes, empowerment zones and neighborhood network centers. The first of the academies will be operated by the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, a consortium of 80 congregations in the Harlem area that has developed more than 1,300 housing units since its founding in 1986. It will be located in an HCCI-owned, HUD-assisted apartment complex that it part of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. The academy will train 120 at-risk young people from 16 to 25 to be cyber-ready, willing and able to compete for jobs in the information age. Two different classes will provide participants with at least 280 hours of training. | 
