Housing Development Alliance receives $800,000 grant for Hope Building Project

Housing Development Alliance (HDA) in Perry County received a grant for an opioid recovery workforce training program.

On Thursday the HDA was rewarded a grant for over $800,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission to fund its Hope Building workforce development project.

The Hope Building project a partnership between HDA, Perry County Drug Court, Hickory Hill Recovery Center, Hazard Community and Technical College, Fahe, EKCEP, and other agencies will help people suffering from addiction succeed in recovery. This project will provide paid, on-the-job training in energy-efficient, residential construction to persons in recovery.

"The program is designed to help people succeed in recovery. What we learned from the recovery service provider is that one of the biggest obstacles to people succeeding in recovery is their reenter into the workforce. We wanted to work with them to create a program to help people transition from recovery back into the workforce," said HDA Executive Director Scott McReynolds.

McReynolds said he hopes that the project will be up and running in the next 3 months.