BOSTON, January 15, 2015 — YouthBuild USA, Inc. today announced that David Abromowitz, an attorney at Goulston & Storrs, has joined the organization as its Chief Public Policy Officer. Abromowitz previously served on YouthBuild USA’s Board of Directors.
Abromowitz has been an attorney at Goulston & Storrs for 32 years, and will continue to serve as Of Counsel to the firm and its clients. While at Goulston & Storrs, he served as the co-chair of the firm’s Real Estate Group and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He brings decades of experience in affordable housing, economic development, and advocacy to YouthBuild USA, Inc.
“We are thrilled that David has chosen to bring his years of service to YouthBuild USA to the next level by joining our senior team,” said Dorothy Stoneman, Founder and CEO of YouthBuild USA, Inc. “David is a nationally respected expert on many policy issues related to expanding opportunity and decreasing poverty. He will make a major impact on our efforts to help countless low-income youth rebuild their communities and their lives.”
“YouthBuild USA is one of the most dynamic and effective non-profits I know of, so I am excited for the opportunity to devote my full attention to the issues facing low-income youth in the United States and across the world,” said Abromowitz. “We know that there is a deep gulf in America when it comes to opportunity –YouthBuild has for decades offered a proven path to fix this and the will and tools to make it happen.”
Abromowitz currently serves on the Board of MassDevelopment, and is a Vice-Chair of the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, President of the Princeton Class of 1978 Foundation, and a past chair/founding member of the Lawyers’ Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness and of the American Bar Association’s Forum Committee on Affordable Housing and Community Development.
About YouthBuild USA, Inc.
YouthBuild USA, Inc., www.youthbuild.org, based in Somerville, MA, is the non-profit support center for over 250 local YouthBuild programs operating in 45 states and the District of Columbia. It also sponsors the YouthBuild International effort that has generated over 100 local YouthBuild programs in 14 countries worldwide. YouthBuild is a 36 year old program model designed with and for young men and women, ages 16-24, who left high school without a diploma, are unemployed and come from low income families. During a full-time program for 6 to 24 months, students spend half their time in an individualized and supportive classroom and the other half of their time on a construction site learning construction skills while building affordable housing for homeless and low-income people in their communities. There are two ways a local program can be authorized to use the YouthBuild brand: either they can directly win a US Department of Labor YouthBuild grant, or they can be licensed by YouthBuild USA to use the name. when they demonstrate commitment to the basic philosophy and design. Since the YouthBuild program was first authorized in public law as a federal program in 1992, over 130,000 YouthBuild students have produced over 28,000 units of affordable housing.
