PRESIDENT CLINTON IS WORKING TO REVITALIZE OUR NATION'S CITIES AND RURAL AREAS

February 22, 1996

Empowerment Zones. Today, President Clinton will address the White House Conference on Empowerment Zones. Building on the success of the first round of grants, the President will call on Congress to pass a second round of Empowerment Zone funding. We have begun to heal our cities, but there is much more we must do.

"As we move into the era of balanced budgets and smaller government, we must work in new ways to enable people to make the most of their own lives. We are helping America's communities, not with more bureaucracy, but with more opportunities. Through our successful Empowerment Zones and Community Development Banks, we are helping people to find jobs, to start businesses. And with tax incentives for companies that clean up abandoned industrial property, we can bring jobs back to places that desperately, desperately need them."

- President Clinton, State of the Union Address, January 23, 1996

Local solutions to a national problem. The flight of jobs and workers have taken a toll on our cities, while crime and gang activity have become more common. These problems defy fixes from outside, but together, by helping at the grass-roots, the Clinton Administration is beginning to heal our cities and our distressed rural areas.

Together, we can make a difference. In this age of possibility, it is through the power of community and common effort that we can ensure that every American can realize their God-given potential. Through President Clinton's Empowerment Zones, America is making that true:

• Three principles. By making sure that solutions are community-driven, that the private sector is an integral part of new economic opportunity, and that the federal government is flexible in allowing solutions, our cities can be revitalized.
  
• 500 communities working together. The first round of applications for Empowerment Zone funding drew 500 communities together so they could create plans for their own revitalization. Of that group, 105 communities won Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community grants, generating $8 billion in additional commitments from the private and public sectors.
  
• A record of success. For 13 years, legislation for the first enterprise zone went nowhere in Congress. Since President Clinton passed his initiative, communities have begun to make them work all across the country: Private-sector investments in Detroit, a community development bank and new jobs in Los Angeles, and supermarkets back in neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

President Clinton urges Congress to pass Round Two for Empowerment and Enterprise Zones. They are working, and America should be allowed to continue them. Round Two would designate 105 new communities to receive a combination of tax incentives (such as Brownfields projects) and direct grants, for a total of approximately $2 billion, all while staying within the President's plan for a balanced budget.