June 27,
2006
DOC Secretary, WHEDA Director announce
$55,000 in funding for new
Wisconsin Fresh Start site in Beloit
BELOIT – Wisconsin Department of
Corrections (DOC) Secretary Matt Frank and Wisconsin Housing and Economic
Development Authority (WHEDA) Executive Director Antonio Riley today
announced their agencies are committing a total of $55,000 in Beloit’s
first-ever Wisconsin Fresh Start program, which will bring positive
interventions to at-risk teens and young adults, promote marketable
construction skills and expand affordable housing for low-income residents
in the Beloit community.
The DOC is committing
$30,000 to the project and WHEDA is investing $25,000 in Wisconsin Fresh
Start, which is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.
“In the Department of
Corrections, we strongly support Fresh Start and the possibilities it
brings for at-risk teens and young adults, including youthful offenders
from the Beloit area, to succeed in becoming gainfully employed,
productive and law-abiding citizens,” Secretary Frank said. “We are
pleased to be partnering with Community Action Inc., other state agencies,
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other
entities that recognize the many benefits that this program brings to
Wisconsin communities.”
WHEDA Executive
Director Antonio Riley said, “For WHEDA, investing in Fresh Start is a
unique way to carry out our mission. We are not only providing young
people with the opportunity to do good and become productive citizens, we
are supporting the bread and butter of WHEDA's mission, which is safe,
affordable housing for low-income people. The efforts of these teen-agers
contribute in a very substantial way to the quality of housing stock in
Beloit, and that is something they should be truly proud of.”
As part of Wisconsin
Fresh Start, individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 can complete
high-school work and learn the basics of home construction, rehabilitation
and remodeling. These individuals come from backgrounds that could include
crime, drug use, abuse, poor health and nutrition or low educational
achievement. Homes built or refurbished through Fresh Start are then sold
to low- and moderate-income residents, boosting neighborhood housing
opportunities.
Community Action Inc.
of Rock and Walworth Counties recently was awarded $400,000 through HUD’s
Youthbuild program to start a Wisconsin Fresh Start project in the city of
Beloit. Plans call for a single-family home to be built through the
program in a location that is yet to be determined.
“We are very pleased
to have the opportunity to implement Fresh Start in Beloit,” said Lisa
Furseth, executive director of Community Action Inc. “Our goal at
Community Action is to help low-income individuals achieve
self-sufficiency. This program provides at-risk youth with the tools they
need to achieve that goal. Partnerships such as this one will be critical
to the success of this program.”
Community Action Inc.
will be the 10th organization currently taking part in a
Wisconsin Fresh Start program. With Beloit included, 10 communities will
be served through 15 crews overall. Since its inception in 1998-99,
Wisconsin Fresh Start has helped more than 660 at-risk youths take part
and build more than 60 housing units for low-income families. The programs
are modeled after Operation Fresh Start Inc. in Madison, the original
program that formed in the early 1970s and since served approximately
6,000 youths.
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06/27/06
