Walmart Announces $10 Million Fund With The U.S. Conference Of Mayors Aimed At Bringing Jobs Back To America's Cities

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon joined more than 280 of the nation's mayors at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., at the 82^nd Winter Meeting of The U.S. Conference of Mayors to unveil a $10 million fund that will be executed between Walmart and The Conference aimed at bringing back jobs to America's cities. 

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Simon spoke during Thursday morning's Plenary Session while mayors convened under the leadership of USCM President Mesa (AZ) Mayor Scott Smith to discuss new ways to spur job creation and economic growth in America's cities and metropolitan areas, many of which are still plagued with high unemployment.

Of the agreement, USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran said, "Mayors know more than most that job creation is the life-blood of any city.  We are pleased to be working with Walmart to bring new jobs to America's cities through innovation, creativity and old-fashioned ingenuity.  Mayors have always worked hard to foster innovation and bring forth new ways of thinking because they know that innovation leads to jobs, and jobs help to create strong cities.  Now, America's families will experience first-hand the tangible economic benefits of our mayors' consistent efforts to usher local growth."

Specifically, the $10 million fund for innovation, which will launch in March, features:

• Walmart and The U.S. Conference of Mayors will collaborate to launch a five-year fund.
• The fund will provide grants to innovators in the manufacturing sector and seeks to create new processes, ideas, and jobs that support America's growing manufacturing footprint.

"If we want to grow manufacturing and help rebuild America's middle class, we need the brightest minds in our universities, in our think tanks, and in our towns to tackle obstacles to U.S. manufacturing," said Simon. "The $10 million fund will identify and award leaders in manufacturing innovation and help us all work together to create opportunity."

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,399 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

SOURCE The U.S. Conference of Mayors

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