Hood Huggers Foundation

Hood Huggers Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, operates as a sub-recipient on federal YouthBuild grant programs administered through the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. The foundation does not hold prime contracts or grant awards; all three of its recent federal awards are sub-recipient positions under Land-0F-Sky Regional Council as the prime grantee.

Hood Huggers Foundation's federal work centers on workforce development and affordable housing construction training. The foundation provides site-based skills training at its Blue Note Junction urban facility, where YouthBuild participants engage in hands-on construction work on a 32-unit affordable housing project serving low-to-no-income individuals and families. Across three sub-awards dated June 10, August 21, and September 9, 2025, the foundation employs and supervises CORE-2 Case Managers and Job Developers, hires and oversees subcontracted construction foremen and site managers, and coordinates planning, implementation, outreach, and participant recruitment. The three awards reflect a 40-month period of performance with participant cohorts ranging from 66 to 72 individuals per sub-award. Hood Huggers Foundation contributes matching funds of $250,333.61 per sub-award and coordinates staffing and resources across all three grant periods.

Activity is nascent: all three awards arrived within a four-month window in 2025, with combined dollars obligated of $209 thousand across the sub-recipient footprint. The entire customer base consists of the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration channeled through a single prime grantee. Hood Huggers Foundation's role is narrowly scoped to operational and training delivery within the YouthBuild framework rather than program administration or prime stewardship.