REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY SANDY K. BARUAH ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, EXCELLENCE IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AWARD PRESENTATION TO DESERT ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT (DACE) - COACHELLA, CALIFORNIA

SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Introduced by Jeff Hays, Executive Director, DACE

Thank you, Jeff, for that kind introduction. I’m pleased to be here today in Coachella with Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack.

Your being here today, Congresswoman, to celebrate the achievements of the Desert Alliance for Community Empowerment, is just another example of your leadership, and your active engagement in helping California communities strengthen their competitiveness in the 21st century worldwide economy.

I would also like to recognize Larry Grable, Director of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Riverside Field Office, whose presence here today is another illustration of the Governor’s commitment to growing the economy here in the Inland Empire and across California.

Faith-based and community organizations have a long tradition of helping Americans in need. Across this great country, organizations of faith are playing an important role in making lives better for our fellow Americans and filling a critical need that the private sector and governments at all levels have not adequately addressed.

But for far too long, these faith-based and community organizations have been met with a shut door when it comes to competing for government grants. As you know, President Bush moved to correct this imbalance, and early in his presidency established the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to help these organizations like DACE who are helping others.

What we all know here today is that DACE is a national leader in economic development. Soon a lot of other folks will know this because today I am proud to announce that the Desert Alliance for Community Empowerment is the winner of the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration “Excellence in Economic Development Award” for 2008.

Each year, EDA bestows the “Excellence in Economic Development Award” on the best and brightest examples of economic development strategy and results. Award winners are selected by a distinguished and independent panel of economic development leaders, noted academics and government officials from across America. Believe me; the competition for these awards is intense as the bar for creative and innovative economic development initiatives gets raised every year.

This year, the winner of the Excellence Award for Community and Faith-Based Social Entrepreneurship is right here in Coachella.

From its success in bolstering banking services, to the creation of a business incubator, to its extensive and impressive list of public and private partners, DACE’s comprehensive strategy for building regional economic competitiveness is a great example of a forward-thinking approach for succeeding in the 21st century worldwide marketplace.

A key focus of this approach has been strong private sector participation throughout the development process, most notably through the Palo Verde Valley Economic Development Partnership. Such partnerships with the private sector are critical to successful economic development. While governments at all levels can be important players in economic development, let’s not forget that it is the private sector that is the most important element of any successful economic development strategy. Unless the private sector is ready, willing and able to invest in a community – economic growth simply will not occur regardless how much government spends.

This is a strategy from which other parts of the country can learn, and part of our job as the Federal agency charged with advancing economic development is to share successful strategies with economic development practitioners across the nation.

For this reason, we will share DACE’s story with the rest of the nation through EDA’s magazine, Economic Development America, which will feature an extensive profile of your strategy in the fall issue.

Through this publication, thousands of economic development practitioners across the nation will learn of the success achieved here in Coachella, and of the award I have the honor of presenting today.

As we celebrate DACE’s success in Coachella and the surrounding economic region, it is important to understand what’s happening at the national level. After all, it is difficult for a region to grow without a strong national economy, and our national economy can’t be strong without growing regional economies. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

We meet at a time when many Americans are facing challenges. They are concerned about the economy. Gas prices are high by U.S. standards (over $4). This is driving up the price of not only getting to work, but the run up in energy prices is impacting food and other costs. This is slowing our economic growth. After six years of record economic growth, our economy is indeed growing at a slower pace than the President, me, and you, would like.

Our economy is still growing and unemployment is still generally low – not something you’d realize by just listening to the media. Our unemployment rate is 5.5% – higher than recent months, but generally considered in the healthy range. In the first quarter of 2008, our GDP grew about 1% following 2.2% growth in 2007. While this is not set-your-hair-on-fire GDP growth, it is positive growth and demonstrates that our economy continues to function and is on a sound foundation.

Of course, the big news is the economic stimulus package – the $160 billion bi-partisan deal created by President Bush and Congressional leaders like Mary Bono Mack – which is putting rebate checks into the bank accounts of hard working Americans of up to $1,800 for a family of four.

This economic stimulus is above and beyond the tax cuts President Bush enacted during his time in office. The Bush tax cuts have returned over $1 trillion to American taxpayers and small businesses – and despite these unprecedented tax cuts, tax revenues are up more than 37% over the last three years.

In addition to the economic stimulus, a key reason why our economy is still growing is our tremendous success in exporting to the worldwide marketplace.

At a time when our economic growth has slowed, U.S. exports are booming. In 2007, we saw a record $1.6 trillion in exports, up about 13% from 2006 – and exports are growing even faster in 2008 with an 18% increase over the same period last year. In addition to our growing success in exports, exports now account for a larger percentage of our GDP – 12% – compared with only 5% forty years ago. The translation is that the more successful we are exporting, the more successful our economy will be.

The fact is that 95% of our potential customers live in a country not called America. The vast majority of our customers – current and potential – live outside our borders.

That’s why Free Trade Agreements – FTAs – are so important to those of us interested in economic growth and job creation. When President Bush took office, we had Free Trade Agreements with just 3 countries – Israel, Canada and Mexico. Today, we have free trade agreements with 15 countries with three more in the approval process.

FTAs help our companies, farmers, manufacturers, and workers gain access to new markets around the world – access to the 95% of our potential customers that don’t call America home.

One of the jobs that economic development organizations have is to educate companies on how to take advantage of the benefits of Free Trade Agreements – because only a small percentage of businesses today are exporting, and they are missing out on a world of opportunity. Businesses that export pay more than average wages and are more successful than non-exporting companies.

So, thanks – at least in part – to our strong export performance, the American economy is growing, and economic development strategies like the one we recognize here today in Coachella will help it grow further.

Again, I would like to thank all of you for being here today at this important ceremony. And now, the moment we’ve been waiting for, the presentation of the award.

Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack will now join me in presenting the 2008 EDA Excellence in Economic Development Award for Community and Faith-Based Social Entrepreneurship to Desert Alliance for Community Empowerment.

It is now my distinct pleasure to present on behalf of President George W. Bush the 2008 EDA Excellence in Economic Development Award for Community and Faith-Based Social Entrepreneurship to the Desert Alliance for Community Empowerment.

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