EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Unemployment Down to 3.7 %: The unemployment rate in Rhode Island has declined from 8.2% to 3.7% since 1993. 34,400 New Jobs: 34,400 new jobs have been created in Rhode Island since 1993 -- an average of 5,432 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 9,225 private sector jobs were lost each year during the previous administration. 32,000 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 32,000 new private sector jobs have been created-an average of 5,053 jobs per year, compared to an average loss of 9,925 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration. 2,800 New Construction Jobs: 2,800 construction jobs have been created in Rhode Island since 1993 -- an average of 442 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 2,100 construction jobs were lost each year during the previous administration. 25,000 Have Received a Raise: 25,000 Rhode Island workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage-from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. A $500 Child Tax Credit to Help Families Raising Children: To help make it easier for families to raise their children, the balanced budget included a $500 per-child tax credit for children under 17. Thanks to President Clinton, the Balanced Budget delivers a child tax credit to 94,000 families in Rhode Island. Home Ownership Has Increased in Rhode Island: Home ownership in Rhode Island has increased from 58.7% to 64.4% since the fourth quarter of 1993. Business Failures Down 18.5% Per Year: Business failures have dropped 18.5% per year since 1993, after increasing 86.9% per year during the previous administration. [Oct 98 data] Over $25,000 of Reduced Federal Debt for Every Family of Four: The national debt will be $1.7 trillion lower in FY99 than projected in 1993 -- that's $25,000 less debt for each family of four in Rhode Island this year. 34% Growth in Total Bank Loans and Leases: Rhode Island has seen a 34% average growth rate in total bank loans and leases per year since 1993. In contrast total bank loans and leases fell an average of 6.1% per year during the previous administration. 33.3% Growth in Commercial and Industrial Loans and Leases: Since 1993, Rhode Island has experienced a 33.3% annual growth rate in commercial and industrial loans and leases. In contrast, commercial and industrial loans and leases fell an average of 4% per year during the previous administration. EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Over 2,700 Children in Head Start: Over 2,700 Rhode Island children were enrolled in Head Start in 1998. In FY99, Rhode Island will receive $15.3 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $7.0 million over 1993. More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Rhode Island's Schools: Thanks to President Clinton, the final FY99 budget provides for the first year of the President's new initiative to hire 100,000 new, well-prepared teachers, to reduce class sizes in the early grades to a national average of 18. Rhode Island receives $5.6 million in 1999 to hire about 145 new public school teachers. And, under President Clinton's proposal, Rhode Island would receive $7 million in FY2000 to support a total of 178 teachers. $1.9 Million in Goals 2000 Funding: This year [FY99], Rhode Island receives $1.9 million in Goals 2000 funding. This money is used to raise academic achievement by raising academic standards, increasing parental and community involvement in education, expanding the use of computers and technology in classrooms, and supporting high-quality teacher professional development. $2.1 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY99], Rhode Island receives $2.1 million for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, which helps communities and the private sector ensure that every student is equipped with the computer literacy skills needed for the 21st century. $27 Million for Students Most in Need: Rhode Island receives $27 million in Title I grants providing extra help in the basics for students most in need, particularly communities and schools with high concentrations of children in low-income families [FY99]. This is an increase of $2.5 million over FY98 funding. $32.5 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY99], Rhode Island will receive $32.5 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college, an additional $1.5 million over last year. With this increase, a total of 17,800 Rhode Island students will benefit. Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: The FY99 budget includes a significant expansion of the Federal Work Study program. Rhode Island will receive $7.1 million in Work-Study funding in 1999 to help Rhode Island students work their way through college. Nearly 1,000 Have Served in Rhode Island through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 991 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Rhode Island's schools, hospitals, neighborhoods or parks. [through 11/98] Tuition Tax Credits in Balanced Budget Open the Doors of College and Promote Lifelong Learning: The balanced budget included both President Clinton's $1,500 HOPE Scholarship to help make the first two years of college as universal as a high school diploma and a Lifetime Learning Tax Credit for college juniors, seniors, graduate students and working Americans pursuing lifelong learning to upgrade their skills. This 20% tax credit will be applied to the first $5,000 of tuition and fees through 2002 and to the first $10,000 thereafter. 29,000 students in Rhode Island will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 36,000 students in Rhode Island will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate] Expanded Job Training to Rhode Island's Dislocated Workers: Thanks to President Clinton, the FY99 budget includes a significant expansion in the dislocated worker program. Rhode Island will receive $3.7 million in 1999 to help 2,210 of Rhode Island's dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE
Crime Falls 22% in Rhode Island: Since 1992, serious crime in Rhode Island has fallen 22%. Violent crime and property crime have also declined 17% and 22% respectively. In Providence, between 1992 and 1997, serious crime, as indicated by the crime index, has declined 27%, with a 37% drop in murder and 31% drop in robbery. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports] Juvenile Arrests Down in Rhode Island: Rhode Island's juvenile murder arrests have decreased 25% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997] 327 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 327 new police officers to date in communities across Rhode Island. [through 7/99] Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Rhode Island, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Providence. Drug courts use the coercive power of the criminal justice system to combine drug testing, sanctions, supervision and treatment to push nonviolent, drug-abusing offenders to stop using drugs and committing crimes. Over $2 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Rhode Island received $2.2 million in federal funds in FY98 to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. $400,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY98, Rhode Island received $400,000 in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse. $2.2 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Rhode Island's Schools: Rhode Island will receive $2.2 million in FY99 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs. MOVING RHODE ISLANDERS FROM WELFARE TO WORK
6,941 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 6,941 fewer people on welfare in Rhode Island now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a decrease of 11%. [through 12/98] Child Support Collections Up 68%: Child support collections have increased by over $17 million-or 68% -- in Rhode Island since FY92. [through FY98] Encouraging Responsible Choices-Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Rhode Island: Since 1993, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have supported innovative and promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, with significant components of the strategy becoming law in the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting; encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education activities. Efforts are making a difference, adolescent pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates are declining. And between 1992 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 10% in Rhode Island. $10.5 Million for Rhode Island Welfare-to-Work: In 1998, Rhode Island received $4.4 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants (the state matched $2.2 million in funding), helping Rhode Island welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, $3.9 million in competitive grants were awarded to Rhode Island localities to support innovative welfare-to-work strategies. Part of the President's comprehensive efforts to move recipients from welfare to work, this funding was included in the $3 billion welfare to work fund in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Helping People Get to Work: Through the Access to Jobs initiative, the Clinton-Gore Administration is working with communities across the country to design transportation solutions to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to and from work. Providence has received $1 million this year to fund an innovative transit project. INVESTING IN RHODE ISLAND'S HEALTH
Health Care for Uninsured Children: The balanced budget included the largest single investment in health care for children since the passage of Medicaid in 1965 -- an unprecedented $24 billion over five years to cover as many as five million children throughout the nation. This investment guarantees the full range of benefits-from checkups to surgery -- that children need to grow up strong and healthy. It ensures that prescription drugs, vision, hearing, and mental health coverage now offered at the state level are extended to millions of uninsured children. To expand health coverage to more uninsured children in Rhode Island the Balanced Budget provided $11 million in 1998. This compares to the 1995 Republican plan vetoed by President Clinton that would have denied health care coverage to 33,600 children in Rhode Island. Helping Nearly 23,000 Rhode Island Women and Children with WIC: The Clinton Administration is committed to full funding in the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In FY98, Rhode Island's WIC grant funding will help 22,600 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 2,400 more than in 1994. More Toddlers Are Being Immunized: As a result of the President's 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative, childhood immunization rates have reached an historic high. According to the CDC, by 1996, 90% or more of America's toddlers received the most critical doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines-surpassing the President's 1993 goal. In Rhode Island in 1997, 99% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 95% received the vaccine for polio; 95% received the vaccine for measles, and 96% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis. Increased Funding for Ryan White by $9.0 Million: Between 1993 and 1998, Rhode Island communities received $9.0 million in Ryan White formula and other HIV/AIDS program funds. This funding provides people living with HIV and AIDS medical and support services, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program which helps those without insurance obtain much needed prescription drugs. [HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration, 12/98] Tobacco Plan Will Cut Smoking and Premature Deaths by 38% in Rhode Island: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 38% in Rhode Island by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 13,000 of Rhode Island's youth will be kept from smoking and 4,200 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99] 460,000 Americans in Rhode Island Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Rhode Island enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 460,000 people in Rhode Island cannot be assured they have the comprehensive patient protections recommended by the President's Advisory Commission. This is because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may preempt state-enacted protections. That is why the President has called on Congress to pass a federally enforceable patients' bill of rights so that everyone enrolled in managed care may have a basic set of protections. Notably, 230,000 Rhode Island women are in ERISA health plans and are therefore not necessarily protected. Women are particularly vulnerable without these protections because they are greater users of health care services, they make three-quarters of the health care decisions for their families, and they have specific health care needs addressed by a patients' bill of rights. PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
2 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up: Since 1993, the EPA has completed Superfund toxic waste clean-ups sites in Rhode Island. The sites are located in Glocester and North Smithfield [through 6/99]. $7.9 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY99], thanks to President Clinton, Rhode Island will receive $7.4 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to provide low-interest loans to municipalities to build, improve, and prevent pollution of drinking water systems. In addition, Rhode Island will receive $462,000 in Public Water Supply Supervision grants to help monitor drinking water quality and enforce health standards. Revitalizing Brownfields Project in Rhode Island: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to the State of Rhode Island and the State of Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation to identify and prioritize Brownfields sites for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. This project is intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use. SPEARHEADING URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS
Revitalizing Rhode Island's Communities: Providence was designated an Enterprise Community in 1994 and was awarded $3 million to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity. In 1999, Providence was named a Strategic Planning Community. PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF
Over $4 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Rhode Island has received $4.4 million in disaster relief. This includes assistance to recover from the Blizzard of 1996. [FEMA, 12/98] EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
Over $667 Million in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Rhode Island has received over $667 million in federal highway aid. Included in this funding is $342,100 for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 28,087 jobs. [through FY98] Over $62 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY98 Rhode Island received over $62 million in Airport Improvement Program funds to help build and renovate airports, and, when necessary, to provide funds for noise abatement to improve the quality of life for residents who live near airports. Approximately $105 Million in Transit Funds: Rhode Island has received approximately $105 million in FTA funds since 1993. Saving Lives and Property: In 1997 the United States Coast Guard saved 36 lives and over $8 million of property in Rhode Island.
Last Updated July 1999
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