Grant Eligibility -- Applicants and Participants

• In order to be eligible for a YouthBuild grant, programs must adhere to three sets of guidelines. These guidelines govern eligible applicants, participants and activities. "Participants" describes those who participate in the activities run by the applicants. Eligibility requires applicants be public or private nonprofits, public housing authorities, state or local governments or any organization legally permitted to provide occupational training and education as a federal employment-training program. Program participants must be very low-income high school dropouts between the ages of 16 and 24, with the exception that 25 percent or fewer participants may hold high school degrees but have special educational needs.
  
  

Grant Eligibility -- Activities

• Seven activities, or grant expenditures, qualify applicants as eligible for YouthBuild grants. Each of these seven expenditures constitutes a specific designation that relates in some way or another to the occupational training and development of program participants. Permissible activities for grant money spending include leadership development programs, wages paid to program participants, program staff training modules, administrative costs, internships and educational programs for those with special needs.
  
  

Grant Types

• According to the official HUD website, three types of YouthBuild grants exist: Category 1, Category 2 and Category 3. Category 1 and Category 3 grants comprise those awarded in amounts of $400,000 or less, funding programs for a period of less than 30 months. Category 2 grants comprise those funding programs in amounts of $700,000 or less funding programs for the same time period. The fiscal year, or FY, 2011 grant announcement contradicts this information by asserting that the minimum amount of any YouthBuild grant is $700,000, and that grants fund programs for periods of at least three years. According to the FY 2011 grant announcement, the maximum amount of a YouthBuild grant is $1,100,000, and total grant program funding stands at approximately $130,000,000.
  
  

Grant Availability

• Congress decides the amount of funding available to the YouthBuild grants program each year upon the passing of the annual Congressional budget. HUD announces YouthBuild grant opportunities in October of the year preceding the award year, such that grants for FY 2011 were announced in October of 2010. This announcement includes estimated program funding. Upon the passing of the Congressional budget in the year of grant awarding, HUD assesses the needs of each grant applicant in the context of available funding. All of this information informs which applicants receive grants, and in what amounts those grants are made.
  
  

Additional Information

• YouthBuild grants only fund programs with matching or leveraged funds in the amount of 25 percent of the grant award. This means that for a program to receive $700,000 of funding, that program must present proof of an operational budget of least $175,000, provided by sources other than the grant. HUD does not accept grant applications on a rolling basis -- applicants may only submit materials once a grant has been announced, and within the timeframe set by the grant announcement.