Preserve America is a federal initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to preserve and enjoy their cultural and natural heritage.
Community status recognizes those that use their historic assets for economic development and community revitalization, and encourage people to experience and appreciate local historic resources through education and heritage tourism programs.
American Samoa is the 814th community to receive the designation since the Preserve America’s inception in 2003.
President Obama wrote to Tulafono in February, saying that the territory “holds a treasured place in the American story.”
In other news, commercial banks here have told the government that federal funding is disguising the real impact of the closure of one of the territory’s fish canneries.
Managers for the Bank of Hawaii and the ANZ told local lawmakers they have prepared for the closure of Samoa Packing’s Chicken of the Sea and are anticipating the closure of the territory’s other cannery plant.
But they expressed concern at the government’s lack of action on creating permanent jobs for the people the cannery employed.
Hobbs Lawson, of the Bank of Hawaii, said the territory is receiving a lot of United States funding, through the stimulus package and the disaster relief effort.
“I just don’t see a long-term plan in place to address the issues that exist beyond these funding sources because they will be temporary in nature.”
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