Reid, the former Postmaster for the city of St. Charles, served the U.S. Postal Service for 50 years before his retirement in 2001. He was the first African-American to be named Postmaster of St. Charles, Mo. He is now a trustee, and chairman of the Board of Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church, where he has been a member for more than 65 years. In addition, he continues to serve his community through numerous board memberships and leadership positions.
Gov. Blunt has also reappointed two Ameren CDC board members to second, three- year terms. Reappointed are the Rev. Sammie Earl Jones, pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, and Robert Robuck, vice chairman, of Central Bancompany, Inc., and president and chief operating officer of Central Trust Bank, Jefferson, Mo.
The AmerenCDC funds projects that promote economic development and job growth in AmerenUE's electric service territory in Missouri. To date, the AmerenCDC has awarded $5.7 million of the total $9 million in funding available for projects.
The next grant application period will run from Aug. 1 to Oct. 2, 2006. Individuals and groups will be able to get applications after Aug. 1 by visiting the "AmerenCDC" link on Ameren's Web site, www.ameren.com, by e-mail at eddept@ameren.com, or by phone at 800.981.9409.
Created with the 2002 completion of a joint settlement of a rate case between AmerenUE and the Missouri Public Service Commission staff, the AmerenCDC is Missouri's first utility-based economic development corporation to operate exclusively across the 20,000 square miles of AmerenUE's retail electric service area in Missouri.
The AmerenCDC is managed, supervised and controlled by its board of directors, who were selected by a collaborative process between the governor of Missouri, the Missouri Public Service Commission and AmerenUE.
Community development corporations have been used as an economic development tool dating back to the mid-1970s. Today, they are used to stimulate economic development, housing, redevelopment and commercial revitalization in communities.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development has been instrumental in establishing several community-based CDCs to leverage state and federal funding resources for the benefit of communities. By covering AmerenUE's 65-county Missouri electric service area, the AmerenCDC will have broad geographic distribution and increased project activity.
AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation (NYSE symbol AEE). Ameren companies serve 2.4 million electric customers and about 1 million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.