[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 27, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3001-S3002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS:
  S. 634. A bill to amend section 2007 of the Social Security Act to 
provide grant funding for additional Enterprise Communities, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, in 1993, Congress created the Community 
Empowerment Program to provide communities with real opportunities for 
growth and revitalization. The program challenged local jurisdictions 
to develop strategic plans for the future and rewarded the communities 
that have developed the best plans with a ten-year designation as an 
Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community. Once a designation is 
awarded, communities receive Federal support to assist local efforts to 
promote economic opportunity and implement strategies designed to help 
communities obtain their development goals. When it authorized the 
program, Congress also provided, in one appropriation, the funding 
necessary to support the communities for the full life of the ten-year 
designations.
  In response to the initial success of the Community Empowerment 
Program, Congress authorized a second round of the Enterprise Community 
designations in 1998, creating an additional 20 Enterprise Communities. 
These designations were awarded to deserving communities shortly 
thereafter by the Department of Agriculture.
  When Congress authorized a second round of Enterprise Communities, it 
only appropriated funding for the program in Fiscal Year 1999. 
Consequently, communities have had to rely on funding added in 
conference to the VA-HUD appropriations bill in each of the subsequent 
fiscal years.
  This last minute approach to funding these communities is not at all 
conducive to the strategic planning that the Community Empowerment 
Program is supposed to encourage. We cannot expect local leaders to 
effectively implement their plans if the Federal support they have been 
promised is still in question. I believe it is time for Congress to 
demonstrate its support for the Round II Enterprise Communities by 
setting aside, as it did in Round I, the funding necessary to sustain 
this important program.

  Today, I am introducing legislation that would ensure that Congress 
keeps its commitment to the Round II Enterprise Communities by 
authorizing a one time appropriation to the States through the Social 
Service Block Grant program to support the remaining years of the 
designations. My bill, the Enterprise Communities Enhancement Act of 
2001, also authorizes the States to make annual grants for each of the 
seven remaining years of the program of $500,000 for each of the 20 
Round II Enterprise Communities. By guaranteeing funding, Congress 
would demonstrate its support for the work being done by these 
communities and provide local leaders with the assurance that Federal 
dollars will be available as they make their plans for the future.
  The Enterprise Communities Enhancement Act will also allow for more 
local control over how the annual funding is used. My bill allows 
communities to use funds to capitalize local revolving loan accounts 
should community leaders deem such accounts as an important part of 
their economic development efforts.
  I have long been a strong supporter of Empower Lewiston--the local 
effort that secured and is implementing the Enterprise Community 
designation for the city of Lewiston, Maine. Thousands of local people 
and dozens of organizations worked together for a year to develop a 
strategic plan for the city as a whole and those neighborhoods most 
affected by poverty. The plan includes proposals to enhance lifelong 
learning and employment opportunities, improve the community's housing, 
and revitalize the city's downtown.
  Empower Lewiston has been able to leverage its funding by more than 
50 to 1, generating more than $11 million in public and private 
investment in the community. Included among the projects that have been 
funded are investments in a local employment firm that created 60 new 
jobs and in the Seeds of Change program that enhances outreach among 
community residents. Looking ahead, Empower Lewiston will be developing 
a community resource center, working to develop safe and affordable 
housing, and expanding education programs that target the needs of 
local residents.
  Empower Lewiston provides a wonderful example of what the new 
Enterprise Communities are able to accomplish. By passing the 
Enterprise Communities Enhancement Act, Congress

[[Page S3002]]

can ensure that communities such as Lewiston will have the resources 
they need to complete their missions and create a brighter future.

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