Job Point, the Columbia workforce-development nonprofit, has sold its 43rd affordable home built through its YouthBuild program — a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 903 N. Garth Ave. that trainees built for roughly $200,000 and are selling for $150,000 to an income-eligible family who completed the nonprofit’s new-homeowner program. The buyer is expected to close on the sale in September.
For 23 years, Job Point’s YouthBuild program has paired hands-on construction work with a path toward a GED, a driver’s license, and real job experience for young participants. On this house, trainees handled everything from solar panel installation to flooring. YouthBuild participant Micheal O’Doniel said the program pushed him past his usual limits: “I’ve done a lot of things outside of my comfort zone.”
Job Point President and CEO John Scalise credited the funders working behind the scenes for making projects like this one possible.
Separately, and on the same day, Veterans United Foundation announced it’s putting $250,000 toward a larger overhaul: a renovation of Providence Walkway, a Columbia Housing Authority public housing complex on Switzler Street built back in the 1960s. The plan calls for tearing down and rebuilding or renovating 25 units, with flood resistance, updated appliances, and better energy efficiency built in. The project is expected to wrap up in September 2027.
Columbia Housing Authority CEO Randy Cole said the complex’s decades-old systems needed the update, and Veterans United Foundation board president Erik Morse pointed to the foundation’s long working relationship with the housing authority behind the gift.
Two different organizations, one Wednesday, and the same throughline: more affordable roofs over more Columbia families’ heads.