President Clinton and Vice President Gore: Revitalizing America's Cities
                 PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE
                       Revitalizing America?s Cities

EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY:
American Cities Enjoying Strong Economic Growth.  The unemployment rate in
central cities has fallen from 8.9 percent in 1992 to 5.3 percent in 1999,
while the number of private sector jobs in central cities increased by 8.5
percent between 1992 and 1997.  And in 1999, homeownership in cities broke
the 50 percent barrier for the first time ? rising to 50.4 percent in 1999
and 51.2 percent in the first quarter of 2000.

Encouraging Investment in Underserved Communities with the New Markets
Initiative.  President Clinton?s New Markets Initiative will stimulate new
private capital investments in economically distressed communities and
build a network of private investment institutions to funnel credit, equity
and technical assistance to businesses in America?s new markets.  President
Clinton and Speaker Hastert worked together to enact this bipartisan
initiative as a part of the FY 2001 budget.  The agreement includes
extension and expansion of Empowerment Zones, an increase in the Low Income
Housing Tax Credit, the creation of the New Markets Tax Credit, the
creation of New Markets Venture Capital Firms, and the creation of 40
Renewal Communities.  The President has taken three New Markets Tours of
underserved communities, which have helped generate more than $1 billion in
private sector investment commitments.

Expanding Access to Capital Through Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFI).  Proposed and signed into law by the President in
1994, the CDFI Fund is helping to create a network of community development
financial institutions in distressed areas across the United States through
grants, loans and equity investments. As of late 2000, the CDFI Fund had
certified over 400 community development banks, community development
credit unions, housing and business loan funds and venture capital firms as
CDFIs.  The CDFI Fund has provided over $400 million in funding to
institutions that provide capital and financial services to underserved
markets.

Expanding Investment in Urban and Rural Areas.  Spurring economic
development in distressed communities, the Clinton-Gore Administration has
created 31 Empowerment Zones (EZs) and more than 100 Enterprise Communities
(ECs), including 50 rural ECs, which are creating new jobs, new
opportunities and stronger communities.  This would have a dramatic effect
in the areas with high unemployment, weak economies, shortages of
affordable housing and other problems.  The President secured $70 million
in funding for Rural and Urban Empowerment Zones in FY 2000 ? after
Congress initially provided no funding.  The FY 2001 budget agreement
extends and expands the incentives in the existing EZs, as well as creates
nine new Round III Empowerment Zones for a total of 40.

Strengthening Community Reinvestment. In 1995, the Administration updated
the Community Reinvestment Act regulations to focus on banks? actual
service delivery, rather than on compliance efforts.  From 1993 to 1998,
lenders subject to the law increased mortgage lending to low- and
moderate-income families by 80 percent?more than twice the rate they
increased mortgage lending to other income groups.  In November 1999,
President Clinton signed financial modernization legislation, which also
included provisions to guarantee that our financial system will continue to
meet the needs of underserved communities.  Under the law, banks cannot
expand into activities such as securities or insurance underwriting unless
they can demonstrate that they are meeting the credit needs of all the
communities they serve, including low- and moderate-income communities. The
law also provides additional support for grass-roots community development
by authorizing a new Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME),
to provide business advice to low- income microentrepreneurs.

The Economic Development Initiative and Section 108 Loan Guarantee. EDI
grants are used to infuse capital into community development projects,
enhancing the debt financing provided by the Section 108 loan guarantee
program.  Together, the programs support critical economic development in
distressed communities.  Estimated jobs supported by EDI and the Section
108 loan guarantee have grown by approximately 300,000 from 1994 to 1998.
During this time period EDI and the Section 108 loan guarantee program have
funded $3.5 billion for more than 650 separate project commitments.

Creating New Tools to Help Families Move from Welfare to Work. Under the
Clinton-Gore Administration, the welfare rolls have dropped dramatically
and are now the lowest since 1968.  Between January 1993 and June 2000, the
number of welfare recipients dropped by 8.3 million to 5.8 million (nearly
a 60 percent decline).  With the President?s leadership, the 1997 Balanced
Budget Act included $3 billion to move long-term welfare recipients and
low-income non-custodial fathers into jobs. To fully implement this
initiative, the President?s FY 2001 budget proposed and Congress passed a
two?year extension of the time during which grantees can spend
Welfare-to-Work funds. The Welfare-to-Work and Work Opportunity Tax Credits
provide tax incentives to encourage businesses to hire welfare recipients
by offering one to two-year tax credits to defray some of the employees
wages.  The President?s Access to Jobs initiative helps communities design
innovative transportation solutions, such as van services, to help former
welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to work; the FY 2001
budget agreement includes $100 million for this program, up from $75
million last year.  In addition, the Clinton-Gore Administration made it
easier for low-income families to get to work by allowing them to own a
reliable car without losing nutritional support and working with Congress
to allow states to conform their food stamps vehicle policy with a more
generous TANF vehicle policy.  The Administration has also worked with
Congress to secure nearly 200,000 housing vouchers to subsidize the rent of
low-income Americans, including welfare recipients who need housing
assistance in order to get or keep a job.

MAKING OUR COMMUNITIES SAFER:
Lowest Crime Rates in a Generation.  When President Clinton and Vice
President Gore took office in 1993, the violent crime rate in America had
more than quadrupled during the previous three decades.  Since then,
America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record.
Overall crime rates has dropped every year under President Clinton and Vice
President Gore, the longest continuous drop on record and crime is now at a
26-year low.  Violent crime rate fell 30 percent since 1993 and is at the
lowest level in two decades.  Since 1993, the murder rate is down more than
38 percent to its lowest point since 1966, and gun violence has declined by
40 percent.

Putting 100,000 More Police on the Streets.  In 1999, ahead of schedule and
under budget, the Clinton-Gore Administration met its commitment to fund an
additional 100,000 police officers for our communities.  To help keep crime
at record lows, President Clinton won over $1 billion in 2001 to help
communities take the next step toward hiring up to 50,000 more police
officers by FY 2005.

More Than 600,000 Felons, Fugitives and Domestic Abusers Denied Guns.
Since taking effect in 1994, the Brady Law has helped to prevent a total of
more than 611,000 felons, fugitives, domestic abusers, and other prohibited
purchasers from buying guns.  In November 1998, the National Instant
Criminal Background Check System (NICS) took effect under the Brady Law,
allowing access to a fuller set of records that law enforcement officials
can use to conduct checks of all prospective gun purchases -- not just for
handguns.  In the last two years, NICS has conducted over 17.5 million
background checks on gun purchasers, and stopped nearly 300,000 illegal gun
sales.

Keeping Assault Weapons Off of the Streets and Decreasing Gun Crime.  The
historic 1994 Crime Bill banned 19 of the deadliest assault weapons and
their copies, keeping assault weapons off our streets.  Since 1993, the
gun-related crime rate has declined by more than 40 percent and the number
of juvenile homicide gun offenders has dropped 57 percent.

INVESTING IN EDUCATION:
Providing Early Education to Nearly One Million Children with Head Start.
The President and Vice President have more than doubled Head Start funding
since 1993, from $2.8 billion to $6.2 billion.  Head Start will reach
approximately 936,000 low-income children in FY 2001, on track to reach the
President?s goal of serving one million children and their families by the
year 2002.  The Clinton Administration also created Early Head Start,
bringing Head Start?s successful comprehensive services to families with
children ages zero to three, and set high quality standards for both
programs.

Turning Around Failing Schools. About 13 million disadvantaged students in
14,000 school districts now benefit from higher expectations and a
challenging curriculum geared to higher standards through Title I-Aid to
Disadvantaged Students.  In FY 2001 President Clinton won $225 million for
the accountability fund he created to help turn around the lowest
performing schools through such measures as overhauling curriculum,
improving staffing, or even closing schools and reopening them as charter
schools.

Investing in School Construction.  President Clinton fought for and won a
new initiative to repair America?s schools, providing $1.2 billion in the
FY 2001 budget for urgent school renovation. This initiative was a top
priority of the President?s, but wasn?t in the earlier Republican budget
passed by the House of Representatives.

More High-Quality Teachers with Smaller Class Sizes.  The Clinton-Gore
Administration won a third installment of $1.6 billion for the President?s
plan to hire an additional 100,000 well-prepared teachers to reduce class
size in the early grades, when children learn to read and master the basic
skills.  This is a $323 million increase over last year?s funding level,
despite the fact that the Republican budget failed to dedicate funds for
class-size reduction.  Already, 29,000 teachers have been hired through
this initiative, and class sizes have been reduced for 1.7 million children
nationwide.

Providing Safe After-School Opportunities for 1.3 Million Students Each
Year.  The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program will provide
enriching after-school and summer school opportunities for 1.3 million
school-age children in rural and urban communities in FY 2001. Extended
learning time has not only been shown to increase achievement in reading
and math, but to decrease youth violence and drug use.  The President won
an 87 percent funding increase in FY 2001 to help ensure that more children
in failing schools have access to quality after-school and summer school
opportunities to help them succeed.

Expanding Choice and Accountability in Public Schools.  The Clinton-Gore
Administration has worked to expand public school choice and support the
growth of public charter schools, which have increased from one public
charter school in the nation when the President was first elected to more
than 2,000 today.  Charter schools now operate in 34 states and the
District of Columbia.  President Clinton won a $45 million increase in
funds in FY 2001 to support the start up of 450 new or redesigned schools
that offer enhanced public school choice and have the flexibility to offer
innovative educational programs in exchange for greater accountability for
student achievement.

Expanding Access to Technology.  With the Vice President?s leadership, the
Clinton-Gore Administration has made increasing access to technology a top
priority, increasing our investment in educational technology by over 3,600
percent ? from $23 million in FY 1993 to $872 million in FY 2001, and
doubling funding for Community Technology Centers to reach at least 180
low-income communities.  The President and Vice President created the
Technology Literacy Challenge Fund to increase the number of multimedia
computers in the classroom and provide technology training for teachers.
Through the E-rate program, they secured low-cost connections to the
Internet for schools, libraries and hospitals, benefiting more than 80
percent of America?s public schools.  In 1999, 95 percent of public schools
were connected to the Internet -- up from just 35 percent in 1994.

IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT:
Accelerating Toxic Cleanups and Brownfields Redevelopment.  Cleaned up 608
Superfund sites ? more than three times as many in eight years as the
previous administrations cleaned in twelve -- with clean up of more than 90
percent of all sites either completed or in progress. The Clinton-Gore
Administration has leveraged more than $2.8 billion in private sector
investment and generated 7,300 jobs through the Brownfields redevelopment
initiative. For every dollar the federal, state and local governments put
into revitalizing Brownfields, almost $2.50 in private investment is
attracted.

Clearing the Air of Unhealthy Pollution.  The Clinton-Gore Administration
adopted the toughest standards ever on soot and smog, and has proposed
significant reductions in tailpipe emissions from cars, light trucks and
SUVs.  New standards for diesel fuels will also reduce the smog-causing
emissions of heavy duty trucks and buses by 95 percent.  Since 1993, the
number of Americans living in communities that meet federal air quality
standards has grown by 43 million.

Keeping Our Drinking Water Safe.  The President proposed and signed
legislation to strengthen the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure that our
families have healthy, clean tap water.  The Clinton-Gore Administration
has required America?s 55,000 water utilities to provide regular reports to
their customers on the quality of their drinking water.  The Administration
has adopted or proposed new standards to provide the first-ever protection
against waterborne illness like Cryptosporidium, potentially preventing
more than half a million illnesses each year.  Eighty-nine percent of
America?s tap water from community drinking water systems now meets all
federal standards.


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