USDA APPROVES $131 MILLION EFFORT TO CREATE RURAL JOBS
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 1998 -- Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today announced that USDA has approved about $131 million in loan guarantees to help start or expand 48 rural businesses in 24 states. The financial assistance is expected to help create or save approximately 2,290 rural jobs, many of them in areas of high unemployment.
"There is no better way to promote a strong rural economy than to boost job creation in the private sector," Glickman said. "USDA is working with local lending institutions to back viable rural businesses that put more rural people to work in jobs that pay a livable wage."
Projects being backed by USDA include a $10 million loan guarantee to build and equip a new sawmill in Portage, Maine. The project will create 42 new jobs in a community of 445 people.
"In the past, the timber industry in this area of Maine has been largely limited to cutting and shipping raw logs," Glickman noted. "With the new sawmill, the town can further process the timber, adding value to raw lumber and keeping more dollars at home in rural Maine, where they are sorely needed."
Another example cited by Glickman is a $1.44 million loan guarantee to finance the conversion of an old hotel in Indio, Calif., into an adult education center. The project will help renovate Indio's downtown and create 46 new jobs. The community has an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent, much higher than the state average. USDA is backing a partnership consisting of the Cabazon Community Development Corporation (an Indian tribal development organization) and a private developer.
The financial assistance is being provided under the federal Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program, administered by USDA Rural Development. Under this program, USDA can guarantee up to 80 percent of loans of $5 million or less made by a private bank or other lending institution to start or expand a rural business. USDA can also guarantee smaller percentages for loans of more than $5 million to $25 million.
"Too many rural Americans have yet to share in the benefits of the nation's surging economy," said Jill Long Thompson, USDA under secretary for rural development. "Through the B&I program, USDA helps to annually finance the start-up or expansion of more than 1,200 rural businesses, creating or saving about 53,000 jobs every year."
Including the $131 million announced today, USDA has provided more than $1.1 billion in loan guarantees to rural business thus far in fiscal 1998.
The latest recipients of USDA B&I guaranteed loans are listed below.
Media Contact: Roger Salazar, (202) 720-4623
roger.salazar@usda.gov
Public Contact: Dan Campbell, (202) 720-6483
dcampbel@rurdev.usda.gov
USDA BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY GUARANTEED LOANS
State Project Loan Amount
AK Hack 3 Partners $2,050,000
Bryon and Nancy Pierce 520,000
AZ MJ Mike Enterprises 3,622,000
Romero Brown 650,000
CA O'Meara Mann & Zettler 460,000
Elderberry House, Inc. 384,600
Chateau Du Sureau 1,700,000
Grubbs, Roger & Christime 815,030
Kalash, David and Elaine 1,800,000
Citizens for the Benefit of Comm. 375,000
East Valley Education Center 1,440,000
Pistoresi Chrysler-Dodge Plymouth 2,472,000
Dan and Cynthia Schack 2,427,630
Patel, Amthabhai and Sumitra 1,377,000
Rednap, Inc. 722,400
CO H&E, LLC 7,119,000
GA Foster Lumber Company 2,000,000
Williams Investment Company 4,275,000
All-Cad Enterprises 3,360,000
HI Waters of Kapolei 9,000,000
West Kauai Comm. Dev. Corp. 1,200,000
Lahaina Myth & Magic Theater 2,000,000
Ramos, Angel & Ester 900,000
ID Five Starr, Inc. 800,000
KS J & J Properties 174,000
KY Walker Resources 950,000
LA American Lodging, Inc. 3,411,000
MD AquaMar Industries 2,150,000
ME Maine Woods Company 10,000,000
MI Hanson Manufacturing 1,753,000
MT Montola Growers, Inc. 3,000,000
Michael Lang 580,000
Livingston Rebuild Center 1,000,000
Chico Hot Springs Ranch 3,100,000
Virgil Cain 260,000
Valley Center Enterprises 3,360,000
NC Frontier Spinning Mills 17,400,000
ND Grafton Hospitality 1,253,625
Richard Stadter 3,586,500
NH RHT and L Partnership 1,000,000
NM Compadre Properties, Inc. 278,000
OK Holly Chappell dba Ash St. Place 800,000
PA Southpoint Hotel 15,000,000
PR Corporacion Central de Salud 4,000,000
SD Southeast Farmers Elevator 2,150,000
TX Kactus Korral, Inc. 1,590,000
One Stop Shopping Center 2,700,000
Total $130,965,785
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