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A COMPLETE LIST OF PRESIDENT CLINTON'S AND VICE PRESIDENT
GORE'S ANNOUNCEMENTS OF NEW INVESTMENTS
TO HELP BRING ECONOMIC PROSPERITY TO THE DELTA REGION
May 10, 2000
At today's conference, Delta Vision, Delta Voices: Mississippi Delta
Beyond 2000, President Clinton and Vice President Gore will focus
national attention on the social and economic issues of the Mississippi
Delta Region, and explore new ways to revitalize the region and bring it
into full partnership in our nation's prosperity. The President and
Vice President will unveil the following initiatives to promote social
and economic development in the region:
INVESTMENTS IN BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE TO PROMOTE GROWTH AND INCREASE
ACCESS TO JOBS. The following infrastructure improvements announced
today by the President will help improve the economic viability of the
Delta region, encourage new job creation by making it more attractive to
businesses, and increase mobility and job access for its residents:
The Department of Agriculture will award $30.7 million in critically
needed loans and grants to 19 communities for basic potable water
systems, community facilities, and business assistance. These funds
will benefit some of the Delta's hardest-pressed small towns and be used
for necessary projects such as providing safe and adequate drinking
water, purchasing firefighting and emergency rescue equipment, and
repairing fire hydrants. The communities in which projects are
receiving loans and grants are: White County, AR; Fulton County, AR;
Fayette County, IL; Alexander and Pulaski Counties; IL; Franklin County,
IL; White County, IL; Hopkins County, KY; Avoyelles Parish, LA (2);
Evangeline Parish, LA; St. Landry Parish, LA; West Carroll Parish, LA:
Washington County, MO; Mississippi County, MO; Butler County, MO (2);
Ozark County, MO; Ripley County, MO (2); Prentiss County, MO; Holmes
County, MS (2); Leake County, MS; Panola County, MS (2); City of Tchula,
MS; Lauderdale County, TN; and Somerville County, TN.
The Department of Commerce (Economic Development Administration) will
award $2.75 million in grants, matched with $2 million from non-federal
sources, for residential and industrial road, water and sewer projects.
These funds will benefit the communities of Monticello, AR; Gassville,
AR; Mountain Home, AR; and West Monroe, LA by putting in place the
infrastructure necessary for long-term economic growth.
The Department of Veterans' Affairs will award a $5.5 million grant
to North Little Rock, Arkansas for the creation of a veterans' cemetery.
The state veterans' cemeteries complement the national cemeteries and
are critical to ensure that the burial needs of veterans are met. The
VA grant, which will be awarded before the end of this fiscal year, will
serve the over 100,000 veterans living within a 75-mile radius of the
cemetery's 82-acre site.
INVESTMENTS IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOR THE DELTA'S FUTURE. In a town
hall meeting, Vice President Gore announced the following commitments
aimed at enabling the Delta region to increase its economic strength
over the long-term:
The Departments of Transportation, Commerce, and the Interior will
launch a Mississippi Delta Tourism Initiative to build on the $13
billion Delta tourism industry. This public-private initiative is aimed
at bolstering the economic potential of tourism through the development
of a regional tourism strategy. The initiative will include a national
summit to be held in Arkansas this fall, underwritten by $150,000 from
ASU and the Ford Foundation; an agreement among the parties to implement
the marketing plan; the possible designation of a National Delta
Heritage Area to honor the region's cultural and historical
significance; and a study of the region's role in the civil rights
movement.
The Department of Agriculture will award $14.6 million in loans, loan
guarantees, and grants to assist the Delta region's business community.
These loans and grants will be used to provide assistance to businesses
in the Delta region, including purchasing land and equipment,
construction and remodeling costs, restructuring existing debt, and
providing working capital. For one business in Louisiana, this funding
assistance will save 40 existing jobs. The awardees include: Arkansas
Rural Water Association; Sylvanina Nursery; The Pits, Inc.; Advance
Coatings Company; Lewis & Son Rice Processing Corporation; Earle
Industries, Inc.; Bethel Grain Co.; Under the Magnolia Day Care;
Hopkinsville Elevator; Natchez Eola, LLC. Business Assistance projects
are located in: Pulaski County, IL; Saline County, IL; Salem, MO;
Clairborne County, MS: Holmes County, MS; Haywood County, TN (2); and
Alcorn State University.
The Department of Labor will award $3.7 million in grants for
employment training and job placement centers. The grants will be
awarded to organizations in Knoxville, TN; Grambling, LA; Rolla, MO; and
Bay St. Louis, MS for programs offering job training and placement to
high-risk youth and adults.
The Department of Education will award $1.2 million in grants for
Community-Based Technology Centers. The grants -- awarded to Concordia,
Franklin and Tensas Parishes, LA; Chicot County, AK; and Vicksburg, MS
will support CTCs that provide computer access and training to adults
and children from disadvantaged backgrounds, allowing them to fully
participate in the Information Age.
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund will
target 3 program information workshops to organizations serving the
Delta region, and will partner with training providers to strengthen the
capacity of development finance institutions serving the Delta region.
CDFIs provide critically needed financing to economically distressed
areas, including loans and investments in small businesses, housing, and
microbusinesses.
The Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration will
award $210,000 in grants, matched with $317,167 from non-federal
sources, to provide direct assistance to small businesses and to fund
the design of a comprehensive economic development strategy for the 41
counties in the Arkansas Delta region. Under these grants, Mississippi
Valley State University and the University of New Orleans will provide
technical assistance to established small businesses, small towns, and
community organizations. Arkansas State University will lead the effort
to structure a region-wide economic development strategy.
The East Arkansas Enterprise Community and the Enterprise Corporation
of the Delta (ECD) will jointly create a new $4 million local loan fund
that will leverage an additional $2 million from private financing
sources. By launching this fund with ECD -- one of the nation's leading
community development financial institutions -- the East Arkansas
Enterprise Community will satisfy one of its key planning objectives.
The fund will target financing to underserved local small businesses in
the East Arkansas region.
Entergy Corporation will expand the new Delta BusinessLINC program
by recruiting another organization to serve as a BusinessLINC mentor to
smaller protege companies in the Delta region. Entergy Corporation is
the lead corporate partner for Delta BusinessLINC and has worked
extensively with the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta to recruit
mentor organizations.
The U.S. Department of Transportation will contribute $150,000 to
expand the MentorNet program in the Delta region. DOT will recruit 50
agency professionals by September 2000, and 100 by September 2001 to
mentor female students at community colleges and historically black
colleges and universities throughout the Delta region, and will
encourage other federal agencies to participate. MentorNet links female
engineering and science students with female mentors to provide career
guidance and networking opportunities.
The Office of Personnel Management will place in colleges and
universities 6 computer kiosks displaying over 15,000 federal job
opportunities daily, and will donate 15 surplus computers to Delta
region high schools. The Federal Employment Information/Touch Screen
Computer Kiosks will be donated to the University of Arkansas in Pine
Bluff and to Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi. Three
surplus computers will be donated to each of the following high schools:
Pine Bluff High School, Dollarway High School, and Watson Chapel High
School (feeder schools to University of Arkansas), and Jefferson County
High School and Port Gibson High School (feeder schools to Alcorn State
University).
INVESTMENTS TO STRENGTHEN DELTA FAMILIES AND DELTA COMMUNITIES. The
Clinton-Gore Administration is committed to bringing opportunity,
prosperity, and improved quality of live to Delta families and
communities. Today, the President announced following the investments:
The U.S. Geological Survey will contribute $100,000 in resources, and
ESRI Co. will contribute $100,000 in software, toward a public-private
partnership to improve accessibility to geographic and socio-economic
data that will assist in regional planning. The partnership will
include the USGS, the University of New Orleans, the Greater New Orleans
Regional Planning Commission, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation,
ESRI Co., and others. Through the partnership, scientists and urban and
community planners will be able to share digital data and technology --
including information on water quality and land use, digital maps, and
geographic information systems software -- to assist planners in making
environmentally sound, economically beneficial decisions about growth.
The EPA will award $170,000 in new grants to train teachers on
environmental safety and to encourage farmers to use environmentally
sound practices. A $70,000 grant will be given to Mississippi Valley
State University for teacher training on environmental health, hazardous
wastes, and the use of Geographic Information Systems to better
understand the relationship between human health and the environment. A
$100,000 grant will be awarded through EPA's Clean Water Action Plan to
assist Delta farmers in using environmentally sound practices that
conserve, restore, and enhance natural resources.
The Department of Agriculture will award $224,320 for home-building
assistance in Arkansas. This Self-Help Housing Technical Assistance
grant from USDA Rural Development will provide necessary funding to
assist 20 families in building homes throughout Lee County.
The Justice Department will issue $495,000 in new COPS grants to
expand community policing. The COPS (Community Oriented Policing
Services) program has been instrumental in helping communities to cut
crime nationwide. These new grants will be awarded to Helena, AK and
Greenwood, LA to put more police officers on the streets. These funds
are in addition to the $2.98 million in COP grants that were announced
in April.