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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Featured Galleries: April 9, 2007 Council grant to bolster jobs program By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings It is a vocational training program that has a 100 percent job placement rate — even though its students are low-income high school drop-outs and many have struggled with drug and alcohol problems. Through Rogue Valley YouthBuild, young people ages 16 through 24 gain construction and leadership skills while building affordable housing. They alternate days on site with days in the classroom, where they work on their GEDs and learn life skills like financial management. Random testing enforces the drug and alcohol-free environment, Rogue Valley Community Development Corporation officials said. RVCDC, along with Rogue Community College and The Job Council, started the program two years ago. In 2006, all of the program graduates landed jobs. Among the placements, one went to work for Adroit Construction, another got a job with the federal government that paid $32 an hour and a third joined YouthBuild USA's mentorship program and led a construction team in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, said RVCDC Resource Developer Breanna Welburn. A YouthBuild crew worked alongside families to build nine affordable homes in Ashland at the intersection of Siskiyou Boulevard and Faith Avenue. Students will also help build six new affordable homes planned near the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Park Street. RVCDC now plans to form two YouthBuild crews, thanks in part to a $31,190 grant unanimously awarded last week by the Ashland City Council. The money comes from federal Community Development Block Grants given out via local selection processes. Councilor Cate Hartzell said the program helps provide affordable housing while helping low-income youths gain valuable job skills. "It's a really impressive marriage of needs in the community," she said. The City Council did attach some strings to the grant. RVCDC has to develop a plan to recruit participants from Ashland and show that the majority of members of one of the YouthBuild crews comes from Ashland. RVCDC also has to maintain financial information that shows money from the grant is being used for the Ashland crew. Welburn said RVCDC staff members have met with officials from Ashland High School, the Oregon Department of Human Services and Lithia Springs Programs. RVCDC and Ashland High School staff are working on a referral program. School officials said that for the 2004-2005 school year, Ashland High School had an annual drop-out rate of 2.8 percent compared to a state average of 4.2 percent. Figures from the 2005-2006 school year have not yet been released. There are many criteria for counting and not counting students as drop-outs. For example, a student is counted as a drop-out if no other school requests his or her records and the high school cannot verify the student has gone to another school. Students who leave high school but earn GEDs are not counted, school officials said. An average of nearly 20 percent of Ashland High School students received free or reduced lunch for low-income students from October 2006 through February 2007. That figure does not include students who qualify but do not sign up for the lunch program, school officials said. The participation rate in school lunch programs is commonly used to show the percentage of low income students in a school. For more information about Rogue Valley YouthBuild, call RVCDC at 734-2355. For more information about YouthBuild U.S.A., visit www.youthbuild.org . Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or [email protected]. To post an on-line comment, visit www.dailytidings.com . Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us