News Releases for December 2005
December 14, 2005
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Hoeven: USDA To Extend REAP Zones
BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reconsidered an earlier decision and will now redesignate North Dakota's two Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) Zones, the Southwest Zone and the Center of North America Coalition for Rural Development Zone (CONAC) in north central North Dakota.
The agency had originally planned to discontinue the designation for the zones which would have affected their access to USDA RD programs, but at the urging of Hoeven and the state's congressional delegation has now decided to authorize them through 2007, a two year extension. Hoeven, who is in Washington, D.C. for discussions about North Dakota military base missions, got the news from USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr.
"The REAP Zones are working in our rural communities as they were intended to, enabling the citizens of these regions to address challenges to their region through cooperation and shared objectives," Hoeven said. "This extension will enable them to make further headway."
The Governor made the case for the REAP Zones with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, Under Secretary Dorr and Johanns' Chief of Staff Dale Moore. Hoeven told Dorr in a letter last month that, "The needs of these communities are significant, and discontinuation of the program would cause considerable setback to the program's beneficiaries."
The two programs began as pilot ventures in 1995 in southwest and north central North Dakota to meet the objectives of stabilizing population and helping to restore economic vitality to the areas. Today, Hoeven said, they are helping to create employment opportunities and restore commercial connection with markets, suppliers and centers of information and finance.
The North Dakota REAP Zones have also worked collaboratively with other groups to advance a citizen-led effort to enhance economic development in a larger region of the state. They have been instrumental in establishing the REAP Champion Alliance, which is a partnership of the Griggs Steele Empowerment Zone, the two REAP Zones and the nine champion communities. A significant product of this effort is the REAP Investment Board, which controls the organization's operating funds, which are appropriated through HUD-EDI.
The state of North Dakota has affirmed its confidence in the effectiveness of the zones by contributing $75,000 in each of the last two bienniums to their funding, over and above the HUD-EDI funding appropriated by Congress.
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