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USDA announces measures to lift Puerto Rico economy

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack met with Gov. García-Padilla and other island leaders during his visit this week.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack met with Gov. García-Padilla and other island leaders during his visit this week.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday several measures to strengthen rural opportunity in Puerto Rico, including designating the Eastern Region as a federal “Promise Zone.”

Vilsack made the announcement at the conclusion of a three-day trip to Puerto Rico, where he met with elected officials and agricultural and economic leaders to discuss USDA’s efforts to support rural communities. The new measures are in addition to the more than $20 billion USDA has already invested in Puerto Rico since 2009.

“Rural areas like Eastern Puerto Rico face unique challenges, and we are committed to matching those challenges with creative solutions to help strengthen communities,” said Vilsack. “‘The Promise Zones’ initiative has produced proven results by encouraging collaboration between the federal government, community organizations, the private sector and state and local governments. Through these partnerships, we are supporting jobs and economic opportunities that enable rural areas to thrive.”

Through the Promise Zone initiative, USDA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and 10 other federal agencies are partnering with and investing in communities, providing tailored assistance based on the specific needs of a community. The initiative also promotes collaboration between private businesses and federal, state, and local officials; faith-based and non-profit organizations; and striving kids and parents.

The purpose of the initiative is to create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities, increase access to quality, affordable housing and improve public safety. Without this federal commitment, it can be difficult for these communities to break through barriers and navigate through the available assistance on their own.

The Eastern Puerto Rico Promise Zone will accelerate redevelopment to benefit the wider Eastern Region of Puerto Rico through job creation, increasing economic activity and access to health care, he said.

The primary goals are to: create jobs by boosting tourism and development, attracting film and TV production to Puerto Rico, establish an environmentally and technologically advanced ship recycling facility as well as constructing marinas, and establishing a logistics and distribution hub for surrounding islands; improve educational opportunities; reduce violent crimes by refurbishing the prison facilities and improving prisoner re-entry programs; promote health by developing a food hub and a commercial scale hydroponic farm with teaching kitchens and a food business incubator; and construct safe and affordable housing.

At the request of the Commonwealth, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service has approved a 17 percent increase in school meal reimbursement rates for Puerto Rico to reflect their higher costs of providing school meals.

At the request of the Commonwealth, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has approved a 17 percent increase in school meal reimbursement rates for Puerto Rico to reflect their higher costs of providing school meals.

USDA boosts food nutrition assistance by $25M
Vilsack also announced Thursday two nutrition-related measures that USDA will take in Puerto Rico. At the request of the Commonwealth, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has approved a 17 percent increase in school meal reimbursement rates for Puerto Rico to reflect their higher costs of providing school meals. The rate adjustment will take effect beginning July 1, 2016, for school year 2016-17 and will result in approximately $25 million annually in additional federal outlays.

This increase is based on data indicating that the cost of producing school lunches, breakfasts, and snacks are higher than those in the continental U.S., as well as other factors impacting Puerto Rico’s school meals program.

Approval of the increase can help ensure the continuing stability of school nutrition programs for Puerto Rico’s children during a time when the Commonwealth is experiencing financial challenges in other government areas that prevent them from providing additional state funds to the school meals programs.

Additionally, USDA is making permanent the “Family Market” pilot program, which promotes local agriculture economy and the consumption of locally grown fresh food by allowing Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) participants to use their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards to purchase food at participating farmers markets. NAP participants redeem a set portion of their benefits for local agriculture products at the 44 NAP Family Markets.

The participating farmers use battery-operated mobile point of sale devices to process the EBT transactions, allowing them to do so even when electricity is not available at the market. The initiative helps ensure access to fresh, healthy food, while also supporting local farmers and ranchers who are selling at the farmers markets and keeping more of the food dollars in the local economy.

To date almost $40 million in NAP benefits have been directed back to the local agricultural economy.

Vilsack meets with economic leaders
While in Puerto Rico, Vilsack convened a financial roundtable with local investors, financial leaders, economists and entrepreneurs to stimulate a conversation surrounding economic opportunities in rural Puerto Rico and how to leverage federal and private resources.

During this administration, USDA invested nearly $2.5 billion to support affordable housing, create jobs and promote economic opportunity for those who live, work and raise their families in rural Puerto Rico as well as $209 million in infrastructure development, including broadband and telecommunications, water and wastewater, and construction of community facilities like fire stations and libraries.

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This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
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