A long-standing program to give
homeless teenage parents a second chance received a second wind Monday
when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. John J. LaFalce, D-Town
of Tonawanda, announced $816,538 in federal grants.
Homespace Corp., which provides transitional housing for homeless
single parents and their children, will use the money to support
its facility at Ellicott and Dodge streets. It also will help fund
a new building, called Second Chance Home, for younger parents. Clinton
and LaFalce appeared at the organization's headquarters Monday to
announce the grants, which are awarded through the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development. Clinton noted that the new 12-unit
development planned for Michigan Avenue and Dodge Street will mark
a new chapter in the Homespace story by providing shelter for teen
parents who are in foster care themselves.
"I look for creative and effective programs that can make a
difference if they are replicated," Clinton said. "Home-space
works. And Homespace's commitment to provide structure for homeless
and young people, and now its commitment to provide the structure
that young mothers need, is exactly the kind of cost-effective commitment
that I believe works."
LaFalce, ranking Democrat on the House committee that oversees programs
for the homeless, noted that government should play a role in programs
akin to the "corporal works of mercy" outlined in the New
Testament.
Homespace's new Second Chance Home will serve 12 families consisting
of parents who are 16 and 17 years old. The group home will allow
teenage mothers to live under adult supervision with their children
while meeting the obligations required for welfare.
Homespace continues to raise funds for the $1.25 million development,
with half of the funds awarded Monday committed toward that goal.
United Parcel Service also has awarded $100,000 to the project through
its UPS Foundation. |
