ELKINS — The Randolph County Commission has shown its support of the YouthBuild of North Central West Virginia program by providing $20,000 in funding after a program representative requested $15,000.

Karen Jacobson, executive director of the Randolph County Housing Authority, spoke at the most recent regular County Commission meeting, requesting funding for YouthBuild.

“I’m going to cover this page that I sent you all a couple weeks ago,” she said. “I appreciate you asking me to come and make this short presentation.

“As you know, the Housing Authority does not receive any line-item funding from the county commission, or any operational funding on a year-to-year basis. We come to the county commission either when we have an investment to be made in a facility — a couple of years ago the county commission gave us $10,000, which matched another $30,000 for some facility improvements and paving — and then the last time we were here was the last time we didn’t get our YouthBuild grant.

“That has only happened a couple times over the last 15 years. So I’m here to ask for support for our YouthBuild program,” Jacobson said.

YouthBuild of North Central West Virginia did not receive the federal grant this year that has funded the program in many past years, she added.

“The program operates with a grant from the Department of Labor that helps us work with about 70 young people over a two-year period who have not graduated from high school or who are having other problems engaging in post-secondary education or jobs,” Jacobson said.

“These are young people who are either considered at-risk or, the way we consider them, is opportunity. We really have an opportunity to work with young people, who are bound to stay here, to help them become business owners, employees, tax payers. If you don’t have programs like us, you sometimes have people who get into trouble. That’s the at-risk side.

“Our program is a proven program,” she noted. “We’ve been operating since 1995. We have about 800 alums here in Randolph County and in the region. They are your local chefs, electricians. We just had someone come into YouthBuild today, he graduated in 2012. He wanted to give his business card to the site trainer, so we know he has his own construction company now.

“So these are young people who are staying here and contributing to the county, and that’s why I feel like, while we’re asking you to support the program, we’re really asking you for an investment. Because I think it really pays off,” Jacobson said.

“We have put together what we’re calling a gap or a bridge year, with a really small budget, to serve a smaller cohort. We’re going to invite 10 young people to join the YouthBuild program this fall. We have a budget of about $160,000, and we’re asking the county for $15,000.

“The rest of those funds — we’ve asked the (Elkins) City Council for a donation, we’re talking with the school board, because we have a really good working relationship with them. Our first effort is always to try to keep young people in school to get their diploma, if that’s possible,” Jacobson said.

“We have other funds in-house that we are re-directing to support this gap year. So the funds from the county commission would help us pay stipends. It’s a seven-month program, and we do stipends for the people, so they can pay their living expenses while they’re in the program and getting their lives together.”

All three commissioners praised the YouthBuild of North Central West Virginia program.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” Commissioner David Kesling said. “We know we’ve helped out in the past and we’d like to help now when it’s really needed.”

“(YouthBuild) helps the community out with all the projects they do,” Commissioner Chris See said.

“In our conversations you said, you normally have about 20 participants, a little more later in the year,” Commission President Mark Scott said. “Seventy-five percent-plus job placement rate, one of the most successful programs in the country.

“You told me that to have 10 participants, and to stay at the four days a week, was going to be $20,000. Do I hear a motion?” Scott said.

Kesling made a motion to approve $20,000 for YouthBuild to be taken from the Community Development funding line item of the county’s budget.

“You guys have run a great program there, and we are very happy to be able to support it,” Scott said to Jacobson after the unanimous vote to provide the funding.

The Youthbuild program offers young men and women the opportunity to earn money while gaining hands-on experience through building quality houses. The work YouthBuild participants complete also is reinforced with classroom instruction, job shadowing and personal guidance. Out-of-school youth ages 16 to 24 are eligible to apply. The program typically lasts between six to 10 months.

The next Randolph County Commission meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the James Cain Courthouse Annex in Elkins.