Doubling of Funds for Low-Income Home Ownership
Release No. 0071.97                                                      

                                           Laura Trivers (202) 720-4623
                                           Dan Campbell  (202) 720-6483

GLICKMAN ANNOUNCES DOUBLING OF FUNDS FOR LOW-INCOME HOME OWNERSHIP  

     NASHVILLE, Feb. 28, 1997--The U.S. Department of Agriculture is pumping $8
million -- almost twice its 1996 investment -- into a public/private partnership that
enables low-income individuals and families to fulfill the dream of home ownership,
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced today. 

     "President Clinton's National Home Ownership Initiative sets an ambitious goal
of 8 million new homeowners by the turn of the century, and I'd like to see a spike in
rural Home Ownership put us over the top," Glickman said.  "In its first year alone,
USDA's Rural Home Loan Partnership has helped dozens of low-income rural Americans get
into a home of their own.  This is government at its finest." 

     In a speech here tonight to the National Farmers Union Glickman said that the
increased funding will enable USDA to expand the program from nine states in 1996 to
17 states in 1997 with the goal of reaching 150 families.

     Glickman also announced tonight that he would allocate $1.7 million for
technical assistance to small and emerging farmer cooperatives interested in value-added processing. The funds will come from the Clinton Administration's Fund for Rural
America, a three year $300 million effort to aid critical rural development programs
in the nation's rural heartland.

     "We want to help rural Americans keep more profits at home rather shipping them
out of town," Glickman said.    

     For more information on the cooperative program, contact the Cooperative
Services Program of USDA at (202) 720-3350 and request information on the Fund for
rural America.  You may also e-mail your request to jwells @rurdev.usda.gov.

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