The Meridian Housing Authority seeks Grant to support the youth

There is a saying that goes it takes a village to raise a child. An organization is applying that saying in real life by seeking to start a Program to support at-risk youth.

Today the Meridian Housing Authority held a press conference with The Board of Commissioners to update the Community on the Agency’s efforts to receive funds to support local high-risk youth.

Ronald Turner the Executive Director of the Meridian Housing Authority stated, " This is the Meridian Housing Authorities effort to apply for $1.5 million for a Youth Bill Grant to impact the lives of youth mostly disadvantaged high school dropouts between the ages of 16 to 24."

The Meridian Housing Authority is seeking funding support for their efforts in providing a youth build program, the Executive Director tells us their plans.

"Our initiative is to build three houses on properties that we own. And while we are building these houses, we're going to be training these individuals on the various construction skills

They have received a lot of community support and currently have over 92 community partners involved in their effort.

"So once we are funded and I'm confident that we'll be funded once we are funded, we'll still have twelve months to meet with our community regarding strategies to make sure that we're not duplicating services to make sure that we are utilizing these funds to the fullest extent," stated Turner.

Sarah Odom, the Executive Director of Mississippi United tells us what made them partnership with the Meridian Housing Authority’s initiative.

" I think this program, this project is extremely important. Anytime that you pour into the lives of children, you're really pouring into the future success of our state. And so it really does benefit all of Mississippi."

The Meridian Housing Authority will complete and submit its funding request on January 12th to The U.S Department of Labor.