Western South Dakota Community Action of Rapid City has received a $25,000 grant from Citi to help low-income residents achieve financial goals, a spokesman said.

Jerry Nachtigal, vice president of public affairs for Citibank's South Dakota office, said Citi - the parent company of Citibank, CitiFinancial, Smith Barney and several other financial services companies - awarded $250,000 in grants from the South Dakota Community Development Innovation Fund to support several new programs that focus on the needs of low-income neighborhoods and individuals throughout the state.

The fund was established in 2006 through a $1 million grant from the Citi Foundation.

Nachtigal said the grants are intended to help pay for administrative costs to implement South Dakota's first statewide individual development account program.

He said IDAs are matched savings accounts that enable low-income families to save money for a particular financial goal.

"The establishment of South Dakota's first statewide IDA program is an exciting development that potentially could help hundreds of low-income families build wealth and achieve financial goals they once thought to be out of reach," Nachtigal said.

Linda Edel, executive director of Western South Dakota Community Action, said her office has several uses for the grant money.

"It's going to be used to administer individual development account projects to help people purchase homes, get a post-secondary education or start a business," Edel said.

Other community-action programs receiving grant money are Northeast South Dakota Community Action in Sisseton, Inter-Lakes Community Action in Madison and Rural Office of Community Services in Lake Andes.

Four Bands Community Fund in Eagle Butte received a $70,000 grant from Citi to help pay for a program to integrate financial literacy and entrepreneurship education into existing classes on Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

South Dakota Rural Enterprise of Sioux Falls received a $50,000 grant to develop an entrepreneur-mentoring program for the state's rural communities.

A $30,000 grant was given to the Sioux Falls Planning and Building Services Department to create a revolving loan fund for revitalization of the Pettigrew Heights neighborhood.

"All of these recipient organizations are leaders in the community-development field in South Dakota and Citi is proud to be able to assist their outreach efforts through these innovation fund grants," Nachtigal said.

Edel said people who want to find out if they are eligible for the services offered by Community Action can call 348-1460 or 1-800-327-1703.

Contact Katie Brown at 394-8318 or katie.brown@rapidcityjournal.com