President Clinton & Speaker Hastert Announce Bipartisan Agreement To Develop Legislative Initiative On New Markets And Renewing Impoverished Communities
November 5, 1999

TODAY, PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL VISIT CHICAGO, IL TO FOCUS ATTENTION ON AMERICA'S NEW MARKETS & ANNOUNCE BIPARTISAN A AGREEMENT WITH SPEAKER HASTERT. Today, President Clinton will visit Chicago, IL, where he will speak at Englewood High School to local community residents and announce an agreement with Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Dennis Hastert to develop a bipartisan legislative initiative on New Markets and revitalizing impoverished communities. President Clinton will also emphasize the importance of community and corporate involvement in creating programs and partnerships that lead to lasting change and make new announcements involving Englewood and Chicago. In addition, the President will recognize Mayor Daley's leadership in helping to forge a $256 million effort to revitalize Englewood; the leadership of Rev. Jackson through his LaSalle Street project; and Congressman Rush's efforts to form a partnership with a variety of businesses to work together to invest in Englewood's potential. Later, the President will visit a small business in Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s congressional district. This second New Markets trip comes four months after his first trip, and again highlights the untapped potential in America's underserved markets, and in addition puts a special emphasis on creating long-term partnerships that can lead to lasting change.

PRESIDENT CLINTON & SPEAKER HASTERT WILL ANNOUNCE AN AGREEMENT TO DEVELOP A BIPARTISAN LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE ON NEW MARKETS & RENEWING IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITIES. Today, President Clinton and Speaker Hastert will announce a new agreement to develop a bipartisan legislative initiative on New Markets and renewing impoverished communities. This proposal would seek to bring together the best elements from the President's New Markets Initiative and the American Community Renewal Act supported by Speaker Hastert and sponsored by Reps. Talent and Watts. This legislative initiative would be based on the following 5 principles agreed upon by the President and the Speaker.

1. The Administration and the Congress should work in a spirit of good faith to develop a bipartisan effort to bring capital and new tools to the impoverished urban and rural parts of America so that individuals who live there will be empowered to renew their communities and develop new markets of economic opportunity.
2. Since these solutions need to come from within these distressed communities, both political parties need to put aside politics and ideological constraints, and participate in a process that focuses on solutions that can work in those communities without being subject to waste or abuse.
3. We believe that there are significantly untapped new markets in both rural and inner city community communities, which have unique competitive advantages that, given the tools, can enable individuals in those areas to renew their communities.
4. To accomplish that, our goal is to responsibly and effectively empower impoverished communities with new equity capital, tax incentives, and other tools needed to address these problems within their neighborhoods, nurturing new enterprises while providing private sector and government resources to empower communities to solve their long-term problems.
5. These economic incentives must be seen as a complement to other efforts to strengthen education, housing, crime, and drug-abuse reduction.

PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL ALSO BE JOINED BY NUMEROUS CORPORATE EXECUTIVES AND OTHER LEADERS TO HIGHLIGHT NEW INVESTMENTS IN OUR INNER CITIES. These include: Edward Liddy (CEO, Allstate), David Shryock (President, SB Partners, Jack Greenberg (CEO, McDonalds), Roger Joslin (Chairman, State Farm Auto), Howard Stanback (Chairman, Woods Fund), Norman Bobins (CEO, LaSalle National Bank), William Osborne (CEO, Northern Trust Bank), Paul McCarthy (CEO, Marquette National Bank),), Robert Fergis (President, Allied Van Lines), Herb Stokes (President, Alliance Trucking), John Kinghorn, (Manager, Social Investments, Prudential), Edward Powers (Senior Vice President, Community Development, Bank of America), John Killian (Vice President & Controller, State Farm), Robert Weissbourd (Senior Vice President, Shorebank), Milton Davies (Shorebank), Leslie Davis (SB Partners), Rev. Jesse Jackson, Hugh Price (President, Urban League), Michael Rubinger (President Local Initiatives Support Corporation), and Al From (Executive Director, Democratic Leadership Council).

THEY ANNOUNCED THE FOLLOWING COMMITMENTS FOR ENGLEWOOD AND OTHER CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOODS.

SB Partners Announces Formation of $25 Million in Equity Fund for New Markets' Businesses. SB Partners is a newly formed private equity fund, building on Shorebank Corporation's 25-year track record and expertise in inner-city lending and investing, that seeks to generate attractive returns by investing primarily in minority-owned companies, located primarily in underserved areas. Investors in the fund include Bank of America ($6 million), Cook County Annuity and Benefit Fund ($5 million), State Farm Insurance ($4 million), Shorebank Corporation ($3.5 million), Prudential Insurance ($2 million), Woods Fund of Chicago ($1.5 million), LaSalle Bank ($1 million), Northern Trust ($1 million), and Marquette Bank ($250,000).

Allstate Insurance Invests $5 Million in the Illinois Facilities Fund. Allstate has approved a 15-year, $5 million, low-interest loan to the Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF) to create the IFF/Allstate Child Care and Education Loan Fund. This fund will enable IFF to provide loans to nonprofit child care providers to build, renovate or expand much needed child care facilities in low-income Chicago communities such as Englewood. The IFF is currently developing a $3.6 million 22,300 sq. ft. Family Resource Center in Englewood that will serve 226 children under 6 years old and will provide training for home care providers and home-based mothers. Englewood's licensed childcare providers now meets only 5 percent of the need for residents of the community.

Community Investment Corporation (CIC) Expands Into Englewood and The Empowerment Zone. The CIC Flex Fund makes innovative loans to fund necessary improvements for apartment buildings when the appraised value of the building may be too low to obtain funding based on conventional standards.

Alliance Relocation Services Announces New Job Training And Partnership Program As Part of the Welfare To Work Partnership. Alliance Relocations Services is announcing the Alliance Training Educational Development Program (ATED) in partnership with Allied and DePaul University for welfare recipients in collaboration with the National Welfare to Work Partnership and the Office of the Mayor of Chicago. The program 's goals are to create a career path for welfare recipients and help employer's maintain a qualified, motivated, and trained workforce. Alliance Relocation Services was created with the assistance of Allied Van Lines, which groomed an in-house executive to establish a new company that would serve inner city customers.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development:

• Recently, HUD approved an $18 million Section 108 Guaranteed Loan to augment a previously awarded $2.5 million Brownfields Economic Development Grant. The loan will fund development of a number of sites, which will collectively provide approximately 1,000 full-time jobs, primarily for low- and moderate-income residents. Particular projects include acquisition and remediation of several industrial sites; these in turn will be sold to private developers, who will build facilities for new or expanding businesses, which will employ local residents.
• The Hispanic Housing Development Corporation (HHDC), located in Chicago, will receive a $215,272 New Approach Anti-Drug Program Grant. The purpose of the grant is to assist applicants in augmenting security; further the investigating and/or prosecuting of drug-related criminal activity in and around housing developments; and provide for capital improvements to improve security. This grant will be used to assist residents at Vermillion Garden Apartments, located in Danville, Illinois. This grant will be used to partner with local and federal law enforcement agencies to provide a comprehensive coordinated, neighborhood approach to eliminating drugs and other crime activities in the Vermillion Garden Apartments and the surrounding neighborhood. Grant funds will also be used to install security lights, door replacements and an intercom system.
• A $8,443,514 Public and Indian Housing Drug Elimination Program (PHDEP) grant will be awarded to the Chicago Housing Authority to empower public housing residents to turn the tide against drugs and drug-related crime in their communities. The Chicago Housing Authority will utilize its grant to control and prevent drug use, trafficking, and drug-related crime in fourteen housing developments (ABLA, Cabrini-Green, Horner, Rockwell, Lathrop, LeClaire, Hilliard, Ickes, Dearborn, Stateway, Taylor, Wells, Washington Park and Altgeld). The grant will be used to reduce both the demand and supply of drugs, by creating partnerships between police and CADRE (Combating Alcohol and Drugs through Rehabilitation and Education), and by using Tenant Patrol, Resident Organization and Resident Programs to help fight drug activity.

Department of Transportation
The Chicago Youth in Aviation Project, working through the Chicago Workforce Development Office, and Chicago public schools, is announcing a new Memorandum of Understanding to expand this youth mentoring program. The program promotes interest in aviation and aviation careers to underprivileged and economically disadvantaged children in Chicago. Major airlines, including United, American, Southwest, ATA, and Virgin, will announce today that they will be providing support - financial and otherwise - for more children in Chicago to join this program. The City Department of Aviation and the Illinois DOT Division of Aeronautics have also supported this project.

THE PRESIDENT WILL ALSO HIGHLIGHT THESE PROJECT PARTNERSHIPS AND EFFORTS TO BRING LONG TERM IMPROVEMENT TO ENGLEWOOD AND OTHER UNDERSERVED AREAS.

The City of Chicago Plans For Revitalizing Englewood. In early October, Mayor Daley, other elected officials, and private sector and community leaders announced plans for $256 million of public and private projects over the next 4 years to revitalize the Englewood community. Commitments included $5 million in seed money from next year's city budget to kick start revitalization efforts and job training programs; construction of a new $150 million state-of-the-art facility for the Kennedy-King college campus that will anchor the 63rd and Halsted commercial area; the launch of a 21.5 million, 215,000 sq. ft retail development anchored by a new Jewel Food Store; nearly $37 million for 417 units of mixed-income housing (includes single-family homes, rental townhomes, senior citizen housing, and housing for persons with disabilities); $2.7 million for new open space and Chicago Park District projects; and $12.5 million for infrastructure improvements on commercial and residential streets.

BankOne and Fannie Mae and the Illinois Institute of Technology Form Partnership to Spur Investment in Englewood. The Englewood community has suffered through many years of neglect. To rebuild this once robust community of communities, an effort involving long term business and financial partnerships will be required. Recognizing the importance of establishing long-term business relationships to effect lasting community change, Congressman Rush formed a partnership with BankOne Corporation, Fannie Mae, the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. The five partners have committed to seek out and implement innovative approaches that will result in community rebuilding and investment. The Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute has committed to developing effective job training solutions, while BankOne and Fannie Mae will introduce investment incentives as well as actively seek out other business and financial leaders to join the partnership.

Community Development Financial Institutions Making a Difference in Chicago. Chicago is home to a number of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that are supported by the CDFI Fund, which is run by the Department of Treasury. These organizations include Community Investment Corporation (CIC), Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF), Shorebank Corporation, and the Women's Self-Employment Project.

• Over the past 15 years, CIC has made 1,092 loans totaling $415 million to rehabilitate 28,000 housing units. Counting low or no-interest second mortgages, CIC-financed developers borrowed more than $500 million to complete projects that costs $700 million. One quarter of CIC's loans have been on vacant buildings.
• Since 1990, the IFF has helped more than 110 non-profit agencies to buy, expand, or renovate child care centers, youth shelters and community health clinics. The IFF has made 156 loans totaling $27 million which have helped non-profit organizations serve more than 250,000 clients, resulting in 1,190 full and part-time positions in the non-profit sector.
• Shorebank Corporation, founded in 1973, is the nation's first and largest community development bank. Shorebank pioneered the idea of approaching development as a business, going into inner city neighborhoods where no loans were being made, and finding untapped markets. It has grown from $40 million in assets to $900 million - making over $100 million in new development investments a year. This business approach brings new investment to neighborhoods, and creates jobs and wealth for residents and communities.
• The Women's Self-Employment Project founded in 1986 is a community development financial institution whose primary strategy is to provide microenterprise credit and business support services to low — and moderate — income women in Chicago. Since its inception, it has started more than 800 new ventures, assisted another 500 businesses to grow and has helped create and retain more than 1,500 jobs, provided 2,500 women with training and technical assistance and underwritten 650 loans totaling $1.9 million to entrepreneurs.

Chicago BusinessLINC Coalition Creates Pilot Program for Inner-City Businesses. The Chicago BusinessLINC Coalition, run by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, has created a pilot program to strengthen the competitiveness of Chicago's inner-city businesses and expand employment opportunities through enhanced business relationships with leading corporations and small businesses in the city's distressed areas. The pilot program will target small businesses located in several commercial areas within Chicago's distressed central city. These small businesses will represent a cross-section of industry manufacturers and professional services firms. The program will provide expertise and guidance to build capacity and management expertise, create expansion opportunities and new purchasing/supplier relationships, create new entry-level jobs, and increase hiring, training, and advancement opportunities for low-income residents.

Department of Labor Awards over $125.4 Million in Welfare to Work Grants to Chicago Area Organizations. Since initiating the Department of Labor's competitive Welfare to Work grants in 1998, seven Chicago area organizations have received over $125.4 million for programs that are designed to move the hardest to employ welfare recipients to work. These funds have been used to establish programs that provide clients with child care services, transportation, substance abuse counseling, job training and retention services, career advancement counseling, subsidized work experience, non-custodial parenting services, counseling and assistance for the special needs of victims of domestic violence, and job placement and retention services for non-custodial parents (mainly fathers). In addition to the competitive grant monies, the State of Illinois received over $90 million in welfare to work formula funding from the Department.

Chicago receives $32 million for a New Job Corps Center. In August 1999, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the City of Chicago $32 million to open a new Job Corps Center. This new center will serve 328 residential and 26 non-residential students each year by providing basic education and vocational training programs. The Job Corps was established in 1964 and has served more than 1.7 million students.

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