TVA Today:
Daily news for employees

Thursday, October 9, 2003

New Fund Established To Provide Equity Capital to Southern Appalachian Businesses
TVA Director Bill Baxter joined U.S. Sen. Bill Frist and Rep. Zach Wamp, both of Tennessee, Appalachian Regional Commission Federal Co-Chair Anne Pope and others to announce a new $12.5-million Southern Appalachian Venture Capital Fund. The announcement was made Oct. 7 at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit, held Oct. 6-7 in Chattanooga.

“TVA is committed to helping Tennessee Valley communities prosper,” says Baxter. “The Southern Appalachian Fund is an example of how TVA and our partners can work together to encourage job creation in communities facing tough economic challenges. We’re excited to have this fund available to help Valley businesses.”

The Southern Appalachian Fund is an approved New Markets Venture Capital Company that will operate a community-development fund providing equity for early-stage and growth companies in Tennessee, Kentucky and Appalachian counties in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

Investors and limited partners, whose contributions to the fund total $12.5 million, include the Appalachian Regional Commission and TVA, along with the U.S. Small Business Administration; the F.B. Heron Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Bank One Neighborhood Development Corp.; National City Bank of Kentucky; Farmers & Merchants Bank of Clarksville, Tenn.; First Bank of Lexington, Tenn.; Tennessee Commerce Bank of Franklin, Tenn.; and Concord EFS Inc.

Technology 2020 and its finance affiliate, Southeast Community Capital, from Oak Ridge, Tenn., have partnered with Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp. of London, Ky., to establish the Southern Appalachian Fund.

In addition to the equity investments the fund will make, Kentucky Highlands and Technology 2020 also will provide operational assistance to actual or prospective portfolio companies. The assistance will include marketing, accounting, legal, engineering and other technical support to help a small business develop. The objective of the operational assistance will be to promote economic development and the creation of wealth and job opportunities in low-income areas and could also serve to enhance the fund’s return on investment.

The Appalachian Regional Commission works to develop innovative ways to attract more capital to the region. Over the past five years, ARC has invested in and helped facilitate the creation of eight new venture-capital funds, making more than $160 million available to businesses across the region.

In 2002, TVA and its partners helped companies attract or retain more than 48,000 jobs across the Tennessee Valley. TVA’s economic-development loan programs provided $22 million in loans, leveraging more than $180 million in funding from other sources.

Technology 2020 is a public/private partnership in Oak Ridge. Its mission is to start and develop technology businesses. It has helped more than 80 technology start-ups create more than 700 new jobs since beginning operations in 1995.

Kentucky Highlands is the nation’s oldest venture-capital company targeting rural America. It has invested in more than 80 businesses, which has helped create more than 4,500 jobs and $1.1 billion in sales.

Exhibit Celebrates Federal Energy Awareness Month
October is Federal Energy Awareness Month, and a traveling energy-awareness exhibit will make stops in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Muscle Shoals later this month. The exhibit is sponsored by TVA’s Agency Energy Management Committee.

The exhibit presents a historical timeline of TVA’s energy-efficiency goals and performance, beginning in 1985 and looking ahead through 2010. The display is highlighted with current technology, represented by a compact fluorescent lamp, and future technology, represented by a LED (light-emitting diode) lamp.

Other highlights include information about energy-reduction goals for TVA buildings, energy-efficient technologies, renewable and sustainable energy products, and a display of new lighting technology by the Public Power Institute.

The exhibit will begin its tour in Chattanooga, then moves to Knoxville and Muscle Shoals.

Exhibit dates and locations are as follows:

Oct. 14-17
Chattanooga, Lookout Place Atrium

Oct. 20-24
Knoxville, Concourse near the skylight

Oct. 27-31
Muscle Shoals, ERC Rotunda

TVA’s observance of Energy Awareness Month also highlights the ongoing opportunity for employees to submit suggestions for better management of energy use at TVA facilities. Employee suggestions are welcome anytime and should be e-mailed to Stephen L. Brothers or David Zimmerman.

Browns Ferry Has $160,000 Goal for Tennessee Valley CFC
The 2003 Tennessee Valley Combined Federal Campaign kicked off last Wednesday at Redstone Arsenal’s Sparkmen Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The kickoff featured local TV talent and several recipients of services provided by area CFC-supported charities. The official dates of the Tennessee Valley CFC – which includes employees at Redstone, TVA’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant and other area federal employees with the U.S. Post Office, the Social Security Administration, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service – is from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12.

The campaign’s overall fund-raising goal is $1.6 million, with 35 TVA keyworkers at Browns Ferry hoping to gather at least $160,000 dollars in pledges from about 1,100 TVA employees. More than 2,000 contract employees working at Browns Ferry on the Unit 1 recovery effort also will have an opportunity to contribute to the campaign.

The Browns Ferry CFC effort is led by the plant’s CFC Coordinating Committee, made up of employees Mark Schwan, Barbara Garner and Brad Tidwell. Tom Niessen is the Loaned Executive from Browns Ferry.