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TODAY, PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL VISIT EAST ARKANSAS AS PART OF HIS CONTINUING EFFORT TO HIGHLIGHT THE NEED FOR INVESTMENT IN THE DELTA
REGION. After speaking to the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce about
the importance of trade and economic development to the long-term
prosperity of Arkansas, the Delta Region and the nation, President
Clinton will begin his Delta visit in West Memphis, Arkansas. At the
Eugene Woods Civic Auditorium in West Memphis, the President will
underscore his commitment to revitalizing local economies in East
Arkansas through public-private partnerships, job training, and
long-term new investments. Later, at Earle High School in neighboring
Earle, Arkansas, he will discuss the crucial role of education and
computer skills in creating strong local economies.
In August of this year, President Clinton met with community leaders in
Helena, Arkansas, to discuss strategies to revitalize the region's
economy. In October, a large delegation from the Delta came to the
White House to continue that dialogue. The President's trip today
marks the latest phase of his ongoing initiative for East Arkansas and
the entire Delta region.
EAST ARKANSAS AND THE CHALLENGE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
As a result of the longest peacetime economic expansion in American
history, conditions in East Arkansas have improved in recent years.
Nevertheless, much work needs to be done:
At $14,742, per capita income in Crittenden County - where West
Memphis and Earle are located - fell 30 percent below the national
average in 1997, the most recent year for which census data on income
is available.
In that same year, per capita income in neighboring Cross and
Pointsett counties were 63 and 66 percent, respectively, of the
national average. Their unemployment rates in 1998 were 7.8 percent and
8.7 percent, respectively, both well above that year's national rate of
4.5 percent.
In the Arkansas Delta, the African-American infant mortality,
despite improvement in recent years, remained at 13.8 per 1,000 live
births in 1997, nearly double the national rate of 7.2 per 1,000 live
births.
IN EAST ARKANSAS, PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL BE JOINED BY THESE MEMBERS OF
CONGRESS AND OTHER FEDERAL OFFICIALS: Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln;
Congressman Marion Berry; Lieutenant Governor Winthrop P. Rockefeller;
Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater; Secretary of Education
Richard Riley; Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, Department of the
Treasury Gary Gensler; and other high-ranking administration officials.
TO HELP SURMOUNT THE CHALLENGES FACING EAST ARKANSAS, PRESIDENT CLINTONTODAY WILL ANNOUNCE:
Over $110 million in President's FY 2001 budget to create new Delta
Regional Authority to assist the Lower Mississippi Delta Region.
Modeled after the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Delta Regional
Authority will target funding and resources to economically distressed
counties throughout the Delta. By closely coordinating federal, state
and local efforts, it will help address the region's challenges in
areas including economic development, transportation, education, job
training and health care. The $110 million budget request includes $30
million in new resources to create the Delta Regional Authority. The
remaining $80 million will be targeted to the Delta from existing
programs at the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Commerce,
Transportation, Agriculture, Labor, Education, and Health and Human
Services.
A Presidential Memorandum to create an Arkansas Delta Circuit Rider
Program. The President will direct 14 federal agencies (including HUD,
USDA, HHS, Commerce, SBA and others) to develop a pilot program by
March 1, 2000 that, for the first time ever, will provide targeted,
coordinated assistance to individual Delta communities. Modeled on the
federal judges of yesteryear who rode horseback in a "circuit" through
their districts to hear cases, this pilot program will help Delta
communities identify specific economic development needs; such as
housing, transportation, tourism, infrastructure technology, education
and health care -- and then leverage private and public funding to meet
those needs. The investment of resources by each federal agency will
vary depending on the specific needs of each community but may include
technical assistance, traveling seminars and deploying staff.
Investment of $16 million to establish the Arkansas Rural Health
Care Initiative. The Arkansas Enterprise Group (AEG), headquartered in
Pine Bluff, is the lead entity for the Arkansas Rural Health Care
Initiative Revolving Loan Fund. The Revolving Loan Fund, designed to
provide resources to develop and improve rural health care
infrastructure in Arkansas, represents a partnership of several
lenders. These lenders have collectively pledged to make available $16
million in loans to health care providers, including hospitals,
clinics, doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners and other providers.
Special emphasis will be placed on lending in seven Arkansas Delta
counties that face significant health care challenges, including
Chicot, Crittenden, Desha, Lee, Monroe, Phillips and St. Francis
counties. AEG is an affiliate of Southern Development Bancorporation,
a CDFI that provides community development loans to distressed
communities throughout southern and eastern Arkansas. Since 1996, the
U.S. Department of Treasury CDFI Fund has awarded a total of $5
million to Southern Development Bancorporation.
A $1.2 million grant to create a 35,000 square foot mail sorting
facility. In 1992, Eaker Air Force Base closed, resulting in massive
layoffs and revenue losses in Blytheville. Currently, the U.S. Postal
Service uses the former base for mail sorting operations during the
Christmas holidays, hiring 700 local employees. It shares the facility
with Leading Edge, the largest aviation painting company which is
expected to increase employment from 150 to 500 employees. To keep
these companies in Mississippi County, the $1.2 million grant, from the
Economic Development Administration, will help finance a new 35,000
square foot facility to house the mail sorting operation and also
accommodate future alternate uses. This grant to the BlythevilleGosnell
Regional Airport Authority will help create 350 new jobs and
retain 850 jobs at the airport.
Establishment of a new office for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial
Service (US&FCS) and the Economic Development Administration of the U.S.
Department of Commerce. Located at Mid-South Community College and
working with the Department of Education, the office will assist East
Arkansas businesses export more of their goods and services. Through
the US&FCS's Rural Export Initiative, electronic commerce tools will be
used to provide opportunities in the global marketplace. The office
will pay special attention to the needs of small and medium sized
businesses attempting to penetrate overseas markets.
New partnership to train dislocated workers in trucking industry.
A partnership of the American Trucking Association (ATA) Foundation,
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Professional Truck Driver
Institute of America (PTDIA), Inc., state and local workforce
development organizations in Tennessee and Pennsylvania are expanding a
truck driver training program into West Memphis, Arkansas to train
dislocated workers as truck drivers. This new, expanded partnership
will help bring jobs to the West Memphis area by both responding to the
shortage of trained drivers in the long-haul trucking and taking
advantage of the unique position of the Memphis area as one of the
leading transportation hubs in the nation.
MCI/WorldCom Marco Polo Foundation will offer Internet training for
all teacher trainers in the seven Delta states. The MCI/WorldCom Marco
Polo Foundation will provide free technical assistance to teachers
throughout the Delta region on how to use the Marco Polo Program. This
program - developed in partnership by MCI, National Geographic and the
National Endowment for the Humanities -- offers rich, standards-based
educational materials to K-12 classrooms. With this training, teachers
will have access to the vast interactive content of the website and
enrich their students' learning experience.
Delta Safe Schools Conference. On March 9, 2000, Arkansas State
University at Jonesboro will host the first-ever Delta Safe Schools
Conference. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, this
conference will bring together teams from the seven Delta states for
training and technical assistance in four areas: comprehensive safe
school planning, effective use of research, federal funding for safe
schools, and model safe and drug-free schools programs. This
conference will teach educators at the state, district and local levels
how to make classrooms and campuses safer and drug-free.
Rural College Multi-Agency Technical Assistance Workshop. Sponsored
by the U.S. Department of Education and hosted by Phillips Community
College in Helena on March 13-14, 2000, the workshop provides college
administrators with grant-writing and program-application assistance
and helps them obtain technical assistance from numerous federal
agencies and programs with discretionary dollars for post-secondary
educational institutions.