(Archived Content)
FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
LS-894Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers today announced the organizations selected to receive the first round of the newly established Community Adjustment and Investment Program (CAIP) grants. The eighteen awards totaling $6 million are designed to encourage and foster economic opportunity and to help create or retain jobs in communities that have experienced temporary job displacements due to the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The CAIP program, an affiliate of the North American Development Bank (NADBank), is awarding grants to non-profit and public entities for technical assistance or special projects. These include community-based efforts to assist workers, attract industry and create jobs. In total, the grant funding is expected to leverage almost $20 million in outside resources to aid these worthwhile projects. Applicants estimate that the funded projects, once implemented, will help to create over 4,100 jobs in eligible communities.
While free trade provides enormous benefits to our economy overall, programs such as the CAIP grants are important to ensure that all Americans are able to adjust to and benefit from free trade, said Secretary Lawrence Summers.
Grant recipients are located in 10 states: Arizona, California, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. A solicitation for a second round of grant funding is expected later this year and requests for increased funding to meet the publics strong interest are currently before Congress.
In addition to its grant program, the CAIP also provides direct loans and facilitates loan guarantees to help create and retain jobs in targeted communities.