ST. LOUIS, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of the Ameren Community Development Corporation (AmerenCDC) announced today that it has awarded $1,200,000 in funding for projects.
This cycle brings the total grant amount awarded to $9,287,000, completing the contributions for the AmerenCDC grant program established in 2002.
Since its establishment, AmerenCDC has provided grants to 71 projects resulting in the creation of 2,050 new jobs and the retention of 2,830 jobs. In total, these projects have created new investment in excess of nearly $248 million in the state of Missouri.
The final 14 successful projects are all located within AmerenUE's 20,000-square-mile Missouri service territory, in compliance with the program's requirements. They represent a diverse group of businesses and civic organizations, including minority- and female-owned businesses.
Of the 14 grants, eight awarded in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County total $700,000. The other six grants, totaling $500,000, are awarded to projects in Brookfield, Caruthersville, Excelsior Springs, Hayti Heights, St. Peters and Union-cities in central, northwestern and southeastern Missouri. In total, funded projects for this final awards group are expected to create or retain 758 direct jobs.
This cycle's 14 projects will further leverage more than $64.7 million in new project investment.
The recipients are: Name/Summary Project Location Award American Plastics Group, Inc. --- for Union $150,000 plant purchase, expansion and modernization Project, Inc. --- for building St. Louis $150,000 acquisition and renovation Continental Sprayers International, St. Peters $100,000 Inc.-for Project Trigger -- for a facility expansion/consolidation Excelsior Springs Medical Center -- Excelsior Springs $100,000 for development of an outpatient and wellness clinic Global Advanced Manufacturing LLC St. Louis $100,000 --- for acquisition of manufacturing equipment Grand Center Inc. -- to support St. Louis $100,000 development of the Metropolitan Building-Hyatt Place Hotel Innovate St. Louis -- to establish the St. Louis $100,000 Innovate St. Louis Venture Mentoring Service Michael Anders Prison Ministry --- to St. Louis $100,000 support small business development initiative and job training opportunity for men in transition Center for Women in Transition -- to St. Louis $ 65,000 support the growth of One World Neighborhood Cafe St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable St. Louis $ 25,000 -- for the Center for the Acceleration of African American Business, a minority business initiative St. Andrews Resources for Seniors -- to St. Louis $ 60,000 support services of the organization's at-home division aimed at keeping able seniors in their homes Center for Faith-Based Counseling and Hayti Heights $ 50,000 Community Empowerment --- for the asset building center North Central Missouri Regional Brookfield $ 50,000 Airport Authority --- for development of the NCMRA runway extension and tower relocation Pemiscot County Port Authority -- for Caruthersville $ 50,000 development of a rail spur extension to Bootheel Biodiesel LLC plant
Created with the 2002 completion of a joint settlement of a rate case between AmerenUE and the Missouri Public Service Commission staff, the AmerenCDC was dedicated to addressing critical economic development initiatives in the state. It was Missouri's first utility-based economic development company to operate exclusively across AmerenUE's retail electric service area in Missouri.
The Ameren CDC was managed, supervised and controlled by its board of directors, who were selected by a collaborative process between the Missouri governor's office, the Missouri Public Service Commission and AmerenUE.
The board made its final decisions based on each applicant's ability to stimulate community and economic development, resulting in community revitalization and the creation or retention of jobs.
Ameren made an up-front contribution of $5 million to the CDC in September 2002 with additional $1 million annual contributions in subsequent years --- bringing the total amount to more than $9 million to fulfill the commitments of the rate-case settlement.
Community development corporations have been used as economic development tools 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 service area, the AmerenCDC offers broad geographic distribution and increased project activity.
With assets of $20 billion, Ameren owns a diverse mix of electric generating plants strategically located in its Midwest market with a capacity of more than 16,200 megawatts. Ameren serves 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers in a 64,000 square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
SOURCE: Ameren Community Development Corporation
CONTACT: Susan Gallagher of Ameren Community Development Corporation,
+1-314-554-2175
Web site: http://www.ameren.com/