Jacksonville Housing Authority gets $2.3M for jobs programs

The Jacksonville Housing Authority (JHA) got a $2.3 million federal grant this week to help job development in the city.

The housing agency got the funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the federal Jobs Plus program. The funding will go toward training an estimated 300 residents who live in JHA housing in the city.

Jacksonville was just one of 14 agencies that received the funding across the country. The Jobs Plus program is designed to help fund job development for residents of public housing through a series of programs including job training and incentives with the goal of eventually moving out of public housing.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic to accept this award on behalf of the Jacksonville Housing Authority,” said JHA Acting CEO Vanessa Dunn in a prepared statement. “This award allows us to continue our work of incentivizing and enabling our residents to gain important job skills that will help lift them out of public housing and into employment and home ownership.”

The jobs development grant funding is a bit of good news for JHA. The agency has been faced with several challenging setbacks in the past year.

There have been several resignations among leadership of JHA in the past year due to alleged misuse of more than $1 million in federal funds connected to utility payment cards.

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