Glickman Announces
Border Aid Program

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman announced steps this month to be taken to help economic development along the United States' Southwest border with Mexico.

At a Southwest Border Initiative Conference here, Glickman said the steps are designed to strengthen rural communities.

The Southwest Border Initiative involves 17 federal agencies with their different programs and systems. Glickman acknowledged that such a job is a formidable challenge.

The initiative dates to 1993. Glickman said it is supposed to take a bottom-up, rather than a top-down, approach to local problems.

The USDA Secretary claimed the Rural Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community, started in 1994, is responsible for more than $2 billion in investments for depressed rural areas.

Glickman said plans are being made for such things as health care, business development and water treatment facilities.

As part of the initiative, Glickman announced a USDA program called "Esperanza y Poder, or "Hope and Empowerment." The program is designed to bring together USDA's capabilities and deploy them in the Southwest Border region, he said.

Essentially, Glickman described the program as one of developing information infrastructure; training people to use the Internet; identifying loan programs; teaching people how to apply for loans; and providing technical assistance on marketing, water treatment and environmental practices.

The Clinton administration is requesting $20 million in their 2001 budget for housing, water, wastewater and solid waste treatment for Border-area colonias.

Glickman also announced new education grants, totaling $2.7 million, to Hispanic-serving colleges and universities in Texas, New Mexico, California and Puerto Rico. The grants are for students in human nutrition, aquaculture, food marketing, plant science, veterinary science and other food and agricultural business sectors.

Communities targeted for assistance include Imperial County, Calif.; Nogales, Ariz.; Deming, N.M., and a six-county area in Southwest Texas.