The US Department of Labor Received $50 Million of Stimulus Funds in addition to $70 Million Federal YouthBuild Funding for FY’09 to be Distributed to Local YouthBuild Programs in June, 2009
The Department of Labor received $50 million in stimulus funding for the YouthBuild program through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (HR 1), which was signed into law on February 17, 2009. Combined with a $70 million appropriation approved by Congress on March 11th as part of the Omnibus appropriation bill (HR 1105) for FY’09, the YouthBuild funding for FY’09 is $120 million. YouthBuild USA expects to receive 3.5% of the YouthBuild DOL funding to provide technical assistance and training to local YouthBuild programs under terms of its contract with DOL.
$120 million will allow DOL to fund between 150-200 local programs, compared to only 112 funded by DOL in 2008. DOL will announce the awardees in June, selected from 544 applicants who submitted competitive proposals on January 15, 2009. There are currently 226 local YouthBuild programs operating, many of which have not received federal DOL funds and are therefore enrolling fewer youth than would be optimal, so this increase in the appropriation is extremely important to them. YouthBuild programs are turning away about 14,000 youth each year for lack of funds, and 1,800 local organizations have applied to the federal government for YouthBuild funding. The demand is enormous.
We are deeply appreciative of President Obama for including YouthBuild in his stimulus package as part of his over-all agenda to expand the role of disadvantaged youth in the national service movement. We are equally grateful to our supporters in Congress who consistently champion YouthBuild’s expansion. John Kerry (D-MA), as always, was a key voice both in appropriations for FY’09 and then again during the stimulus debate, We are also grateful to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI), as chairmen of the appropriations committees governing funds for DOL, for their strong support of YouthBuild. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) played an important role in the Senate by joining Sen. Kerry as a co-champion in asking their colleagues to support increased YouthBuild funding. In the House, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) were our champions leading the effort to support YouthBuild’s appropriation.
A bipartisan group of 39 senators co-signed the YouthBuild senate support letter, which was circulated by Sen. Kerry and Sen. Snowe. The letter called for $170 million in funding for FY’10. In April, Rep. Lewis and Rep. Capito had a bipartisan group of 75 representatives sign on to the YouthBuild House support letter, which also recommended $170 million.
An increased appropriation for FY’10 is necessary to keep YouthBuild on the Obama Administration’s plan for growth, aiming for 50,000 young people per year by 2018.
President Obama’s budget proposal for FY2010 has just come out with YouthBuild funded at $114M, showing a 62% increase over the regular FY’09 appropriation. This is another expression of his commitment to the steady expansion of YouthBuild. | 
