THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

"Economic development is just one of the things we must do to launch an economic renaissance in the Mississippi Delta. We have a profound responsibility to give the people of the Delta the tools they need to share in our prosperity. That's why I am announcing a series of steps to help create jobs and nurture the economy of the Delta." --Vice President Al Gore |

Economic Development & Technology Capacity Investments

• 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 small businesses community. These loans and grants will be used to provide assistance to small businesses in the Delta region, including purchasing land and equipment, construction and remodeling costs, restructuring existing debt, and providing working capital. For one small 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 Missouri, Knoxville, TN; Grambling, LA; Rolla, MS; 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 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 has enlisted the support of the Mississippi Chemical Corporation 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. So far, the company has donated $5 million to economic development in the Delta and solicited the help of FedEx and the Mississippi Chemical Corporation to serve as mentors.
• 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).