Zones Now Eligible to Receive Billions for Long-Term Revitalization and Job Creation

• List of new Urban Zones
• List of new Rural Zones
• Federal Assistance for Round II Non-Designated Communities Fact Sheet
• En Espaņol

WASHINGTON, DC - Vice President Gore today named 20 economically distressed communities as new Empowerment Zones, making them eligible to share $3.8 billion in proposed federal grants and tax-exempt bonding authority to finance sweeping revitalization and job creation programs over the next 10 years.

If Congress approves full funding for the Empowerment Zones, the federal investment is expected to help create and retain about 90,000 jobs and stimulate $20.3 billion in private and public investment in the next 10 years in the Zones. This would have a dramatic effect in the areas, which have high unemployment, weak economies, shortages of affordable housing and other problems.

"Empowerment Zones create a successful partnership between all levels of government, private businesses, community groups and local residents to bring new life to inner cities and rural communities suffering from hard economic times," Vice President Gore said. "These Zones do exactly what their name says - they empower people willing to work hard to improve their communities, improve their lives, and build better futures for their children. They help connect the communities that need it most to new opportunity."

This Second Round of Empowerment Zones builds on the experience of the program's First Round, which included eleven Zones (as well as 94 Enterprise Communities), awarded in December 1994. The First Round has resulted in more than $8 billion in private-sector investment to the designated communities and unprecedented public-private partnerships.

The Second Round offers additional potential to link communities to their broader regional economies. Second-Round Zones were able to designate up to 2,000 acres of underutilized "developable property" outside the formal Zone area that can receive Zone benefits and be used for job creation for Zone residents. For the first time, Indian tribes with poverty areas also qualified to apply for and receive designation.

NEW ZONES

New Urban Empowerment Zones announced today by the Vice President are in:

Boston, Massachusetts	Knoxville, Tennessee
Cumberland County (Bridgeton/Vineland), New Jersey	Miami, Florida
Cincinnati, Ohio	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Columbia/Sumter, South Carolina	New Haven, Connecticut
Columbus, Ohio	Norfolk/Portsmouth, Virginia
El Paso, Texas	Santa Ana, California
Gary/East Chicago, Indiana	St. Louis, Missouri/East St. Louis, Illinois
	Huntington, West Virginia/Ironton, Ohio

New Rural Empowerment Zones announced today by the Vice President are in:

Cordele, Georgia	Riverside County, California
Lake Agassiz, North Dakota	Ullin, Illinois
The Oglala Sioux Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota

The Vice President, who chairs the Administration's Community Empowerment Board, announced new Zones and Enterprise Communities at a White House event with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

"Empowerment Zones are making the American Dream of a good job, a healthy community and a good home a reality for growing numbers of our people," Cuomo said. "The Zones are a powerful engine generating economic growth and prosperity."

"These designations will further reduce government red tape and help these rural communities thrive," added Glickman.

ZONE BENEFITS

The 20 new Empowerment Zones designated today will share $55 million in federal grants already approved for this year - $3 million for each Urban Zone and $2 million for each Rural Zone. The Clinton Administration has already won Congressional approval of $2.2 billion in tax-exempt bonding authority for the group of 20 Zones announced today, along with other tax incentives over the next 10 years.

The Administration is seeking Congressional approval for $1.5 billion in federal grants for the group of 15 Urban Zones spread over 10 years, and $100 million in such grants for the group of five Rural Zones for the same period.

This works out to $130 million in bonding authority and $100 million in grants for each Urban Zone, and $60 million in bonding authority and $20 million in grants for each Rural Zone over 10 years.

FUNDING FOR MORE CITIES

The Vice President also announced that President Clinton's proposed federal budget for the 2000 fiscal year will seek an additional $65 million in special grants that would go to some of the cities that applied for but did not receive designation as Urban Empowerment Zones. A total of $45 million of the grants would go the 15 communities - called Strategic Planning Communities - that were finalists in the competition for selection as Urban Empowerment Zones.

The Strategic Planning Communities, which would each get $3 million next year under the President's budget request are in:

Anchorage, Alaska	Las Vegas/North Las Vegas, Nevada
Birmingham, Alabama	Little Rock/North Little Rock, Arkansas
Burlington, Vermont/Plattsburgh, New York	New Orleans, Louisiana
Charleston/North Charleston, South Carolina	New York City/Brooklyn, New York
Jackson, Mississippi	Newark/Elizabeth, New Jersey
Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas City, Kansas	Providence, Rhode Island
Louisville, Kentucky	San Antonio, Texas
Tacoma/Lakewood, Washington

The remaining $20 million would fund strategic planning and technical assistance for Urban Zone applicants.

FUNDING FOR MORE RURAL AREAS

In addition to announcing the new Empowerment Zones, the Vice President today announced 20 additional communities have been designated as Rural Enterprise Communities, making them eligible for a share of $50 million in proposed federal grants over the next 10 years. The grants are expected to help the Rural Enterprise Communities create and retain 16,000 jobs and stimulate $500 million in additional private and public investment over 10 years.

The 20 new Rural Enterprise Communities selected for designation today will share $5 million in federal grants already approved for this year - $250,000 for each.

The Rural Enterprise Communities are in:

Ada, Oklahoma	Juneau, Alaska
Hallandale, South Carolina	Keshena, Wisconsin
Austin, Indiana	Leoti, Kansas
Bowling Green, Kentucky	Lewiston, Maine
Charleston, West Virginia	Orange Cove, California
Colville, Washington	Poplar, Montana
Deming, New Mexico	Rutledge, Tennessee
Harrison, Michigan	Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Immokalee, Florida	Uvalde, Texas
Kaunakakai, Hawaii	Window Rock, Arizona

USDA will seek $5 million for additional special grants next year for rural communities, known as Champion Communities, that applied for but did not get Empowerment Zone designation.

ZONE SELECTION

This year 279 communities and groups of adjacent communities competed for the Empowerment Zone designation -- 119 in urban areas and 160 in rural areas. In order to compete for Empowerment Zone status, communities must submit strategic revitalization plans that act as roadmaps for transforming troubled communities.

Zones were selected based on a scoring system that measured the quality of revitalization plans and private and public sector commitments made to implement the plans. Career civil servants made the selections.

Existing Urban Empowerment Zones are in: Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia/Camden, NJ.

Existing Rural Empowerment Zones are in the Mississippi Delta, Kentucky Highlands and the Rio Grand Valley in Texas.

SUMMARY OF TAX INCENTIVES AVAILABLE IN NEW EMPOWERMENT ZONES

Each new Empowerment Zone designated today by Vice President Gore will benefit from new tax incentives already approved by Congress. Each Zone will be able to take advantage of these tax incentives:

• BONDING AUTHORITY: Communities can Issue $130 million in tax-exempt bonds for Urban Empowerment Zones and $60 million in tax-exempt bonds for Rural Empowerment Zones over 10 years to provide reduced-cost financing for revitalization efforts.

• MACHINERY DEDUCTION: Businesses in a Zone can take a federal income tax deduction of up to $37,500 of machinery and equipment in the year it is placed in service instead of recovering the cost over a period of years through depreciation.

• BROWNFIELDS CLEANUP: Zones can offer tax incentives to promote the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated and abandoned business and industrial sites, known as brownfields. A business in a Zone can deduct qualified environmental cleanup costs in the tax year the cost is paid or incurred.

• WORK OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT: Businesses in a Zone can claim up to a $2,400 tax credit for hiring 18-24 year-old Zone residents and other hard-to-employ residents.

• SCHOOL FUNDING: State and local governments can issue bonds that permit public schools in a Zone to raise funds for curriculum development or physical improvements. To be eligible, schools must have financial commitments from business partners.