Citigroup Foundation Awards $1.75 Million in Grants to LISC for New Affordable Housing and Training Programs.

Business Editors

LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2002

Citigroup's Robert E. Rubin, and LISC President and CEO Michael

Rubinger preside at December 3 event

New Joint Financial Education Training Program - "Breaking New

Ground" -- Announced

Citibank today announced that the Citigroup Foundation has awarded $1.75 million in grants to Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the nation's leading community development support organization.

Robert E. Rubin, chairman of the Executive Committee and member of the Office of the Chairman of Citigroup, who also is LISC's board chairman, hosted several hundred business and community leaders today at the Citibank building in Long Island City to celebrate the partnership.

"We recognize and are pleased to salute the outstanding contributions of LISC and of all those involved in helping to revitalize our local communities across the country," said Robert E. Rubin, Director; and Member of the Office of the Chairman of Citigroup. "Over the past three decades, we at Citigroup have been committed to taking a leadership position in supporting community development efforts and we plan to continue that effort as we work toward strengthening our local communities and making them better places to live and work."

LISC's national office will receive $1 million to launch "Breaking New Ground," an initiative which will help the organization stimulate affordable housing and economic development projects across the country. The grant will also support LISC's Citibank Financial Education Training Series -- an innovative financial education training program for more than 350 nonprofit leaders in Buffalo, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC that will help them better manage their organizations.

The remaining $750,000 will go to LISC's New York City program, providing renewed support for the Neighborhood Homes Program, which LISC launched in 1998. Initial funds from Citigroup helped three Brooklyn community development corporations - Cypress Hills LDC, Bridge Street Development, and Fifth Avenue Committee - begin an innovative affordable housing campaign.

"We are extremely grateful to Citigroup for this unprecedented investment," said Michael Rubinger, president and CEO of LISC. "Clearly, Citigroup is committed to ensuring the success of LISC and its community development partners for many years to come."

During the past two decades, Citigroup has committed more than $213 million in lending, investments and grants to LISC and its affiliates, demonstrating its sustained support for community development efforts nationwide. Citigroup's support goes beyond the financial and includes the involvement of its senior executives who help guide LISC on both the national and local levels.

In New York, the Neighborhood Homes program will create more than 250 affordable homes during the next several years. Working in all five boroughs with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, LISC will provide community groups with financial and technical support as they renovate severely dilapidated, city-owned properties. "This is an important program at a critical time," said Denise Scott, Managing Director of the New York City LISC program. "Affordable homeownership opportunities are limited in New York City and the Neighborhood Homes program is helping residents afford to stay in their communities."

Citibank is a member of Citigroup (NYSE: C), the preeminent global financial services company with some 200 million customers accounts in more than 100 countries that provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage, and asset management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Salomon Smith Barney, Banamex, and Travelers Life and Annuity. The Citigroup Foundation focuses its grants primarily in three areas: building communities and entrepreneurs, financial education, and educating the next generation. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.

LISC helps resident-led, community-based development organizations transform distressed communities and neighborhoods into healthy ones - good places to live, do business, work and raise families. By providing capital, project training and consultation, LISC supports the development of local leadership and the creation of affordable housing, commercial and community facilities, businesses and jobs. In New York City, LISC and its affiliates have invested more than $1 billion in local nonprofit developers, resulting in more than 300 new homes, 20,000 new apartments and 1 million square feet of commercial, industrial and retail space. Additional information can be found at www.liscnet.org.