LEWISTON – The next round of YouthBuild projects in Lewiston-Auburn will have students helping to build a 10-unit complex and turning an old school into housing, starting this fall under the new leadership of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England.

Coastal Enterprises Inc. has run the program locally since 2004, but this year it asked Goodwill to apply for the Department of Labor grant, Goodwill spokeswoman Michelle Smith said.

“We’re really excited,” Smith said. “It really aligns with our mission of job training and giving (back.)”

Goodwill announced Tuesday that it had gotten the first installment of a $1.1 million grant.

YouthBuild is aimed at 18- to 24-year-olds who’ve dropped out of high school and are considered at-risk and low-income. It pays them a wage to participate and requires a two-year-commitment, Smith said. Classes are taught in the morning by Lewiston Adult Education and afternoons are spent on the work site. It’s a chance to pick up job and construction skills as well as a GED.

Smith said 70 participants will work with Tedford Housing out of Brunswick on a new 10-unit complex for low-income and homeless families and on retrofitting an old school into six housing units.

On its Web site, Tedford says it will begin work soon on a 10-family complex at 84 Pine St. in Lewiston and at the old Franklin School in Auburn. Smith said participants will be recruited through referrals and social service agencies.

For information on qualifying for a spot, phone 347-3215 or e-mail [email protected].