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Ameren Community Development Corporation Announces Grant Recipients

Posted on: Monday, 22 January 2007, 18:01 CST

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of the Ameren Community Development Corporation (AmerenCDC) announced today that it has awarded $1,220,000 of a total $9 million in funding for projects.

This cycle brings the total grant amount awarded to $8.1 million of the $9 million dedicated to the AmerenCDC grants. One final set of grants will be awarded later this year.

Since its establishment in 2002, AmerenCDC has provided grants to 57 projects resulting in the creation of 1,688 new jobs and the retention of 2,434 jobs. In total, these projects have created new investment in excess of $182 million in the state of Missouri.

The 12 successful projects are all located within AmerenUE's 20,000- square-mile Missouri service territory, in compliance with the program's requirements. They represent a diverse group of businesses and civic organizations, including minority- and female-owned businesses.

Of the 12 grants, seven awarded in the St. Louis Metropolitan area total $625,000, representing 210 jobs created or retained. The other five grants, totaling $595,000, are awarded to projects in Alexandria, Brookfield, Mexico, Pilot Knob and Scott City -- cities in central, northwestern and southeastern Missouri for projects that will create or retain almost 258 jobs.

This cycle's 12 projects will further leverage more than $17.6 million in new project investment.

The recipients in this round of awards are: Name/Summary Project Location Award Excelsior Manufacturing & Supply Corporation expansion Brookfield $175,000 Melton Machine & Control Company expansion Washington $175,000 Mid-South Wire Company expansion Scott City $150,000 Triad Catalog Co. LLC -- Soft Surroundings -- distribution center renovation Mexico $150,000 Express Medical Transporters, Inc., technology upgrade for access to healthcare transportation St. Louis $100,000 Middle Mississippi River Terminal, Inc. port extension Alexandria $100,000 New Northside Family Life Center building project St. Louis $100,000 Better Family Life Cultural Center & Museum St. Louis $75,000 Economic Development Council of St. Charles - Partners in Progress - manufacturing skills institute St. Charles $75,000 MERS/Goodwill Industries, Inc., call center start-up St. Louis $50,000 Ranken Community Development Corporation --- North City revitalization and job creation project St. Louis $50,000 Ozark Valleys Community Services, Inc., relocation and retention project Pilot Knob $20,000

Created with the 2002 completion of a joint settlement of a rate case between AmerenUE and the Missouri Public Service Commission staff, the AmerenCDC is dedicated to addressing critical economic development initiatives in the state. It is Missouri's first utility-based economic development company to operate exclusively across AmerenUE's retail electric service area in Missouri.

The Ameren CDC is managed, supervised and controlled by its board of directors, who were selected by a collaborative process between former Missouri Governor Bob Holden, the Missouri Public Service Commission and AmerenUE.

The board made its final decisions based on each applicant's ability to stimulate community and economic development, resulting in community revitalization and the creation or retention of jobs.

Ameren made an up-front contribution of $5 million to the CDC in September 2002 with additional $1 million annual contributions in subsequent years--- bringing the total amount to $9 million to fulfill the commitments of the rate-case settlement.

One final cycle in this program will start March 1, 2007, closing May 1, 2007. Applications are now available to individuals and groups for the next round from the "AmerenCDC" link on Ameren's Web site, http://www.ameren.com/ , by e-mail at eddept@ameren.com, or by phone at 800.981.9409.

Community development corporations have been used as economic development tools dating back to the mid-1970s. Today, they are used to stimulate economic development, housing, redevelopment and commercial revitalization in communities.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development has been instrumental in establishing several community-based CDCs to leverage state and federal funding resources for the benefit of communities. By covering AmerenUE's 65-county Missouri service area, the AmerenCDC offers broad geographic distribution and increased project activity.

With assets of $19 billion, Ameren owns a diverse mix of electric generating plants strategically located in its Midwest market with a capacity of more than 16,200 megawatts. Ameren serves 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers in a 64,000 square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.

AmerenUE

CONTACT: Susan Gallagher of AmerenUE, +1-314-554-2175

Web site: http://www.ameren.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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