Opportunity Zones provide three benefits with respect to local community and economic development.
They offer an ability to act as a convening agent for a diverse array of stakeholders in thinking about community-level investments.
Opportunity Zones additionally provide a tax incentive for capital gains.
They also provide preferential consideration in federal grants, loans, and technical assistance programs.
In this talk, head of the Economic Innovation Group, John Lettieri, talks about the "forgotten zip codes" across America, and how Opportunity Zones can allow them to thrive. John's career in public policy has included time in both the public and private sectors working with a diverse set of policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors, and global business leaders.
Communities have seen all three of these benefits leveraged in a variety of ways to support a multitude of projects, from affordable housing and healthcare to small business development and renewable energy.
For communities to achieve the maximum benefit from the Opportunity Zone program, states and investors must be committed to the original intent of Opportunity Zones and endeavor to support impactful projects that incorporate community input and align with social impact goals.
Michael Saunders is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants.com. He edits a site on Community Foundations that highlights the Social Progress Index for Counties around the country and Opportunity Zones within these foundations' areas of coverage.
Additional Government Grants Resources
Affordable Housing Partnership Program for the First Time Home Buyers in California The Affordable Housing Partnership Program is a housing opportunity that enables first time home buyers in the State of California to seek financial assistance from lending institutions that have formed a partnership with CalHFA for the purposes of this endeavor. 2012 University Center Economic Development Program Competition The Economic Development Administration has recently established the 2012 University Center Economic Development Program Competition wherein they intend to solicit grant applications from higher education institutions stating their intent to establish and operate special University Centers that are focused on leveraging university assets in order to create regional economic ecosystems that will support high-growth entrepreneurship.
Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program The Health Resources and Services Administration has recently constituted the establishment of the Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program, also referred to as the TRCGP. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Dollar Homes Program The Dollar Homes Program revolves around the process of selling single family homes for a superbly reasonable price of $1 (plus closing cost) to low-to-moderate income families, granted that these houses have been acquired through foreclosure by the Federal Housing Administration, and have already been actively marketed for at least six months and still remained unsold after that certain period of time. Development of Measures to Determine Successful Hearing Health Care Outcomes In accordance with this mission, the National Institutes of Health has recently collaborated with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) in an attempt to constitute the Development of Measures to Determine Successful Hearing Health Care Outcomes Program. Government Grants Within The United States Education Sector The United States of America prides itself as having one of the top countries with the most efficient and functional educational systems. The US has been consistently working towards the improvement of the country's education-related initiatives. Small Business Innovation Research Phase IIB Bridge Awards In line with this mission, the NIH has recently constituted the Small Business Innovation Research Phase IIB Bridge Awards to Accelerate the Development of Cancer Therapeutics, Imaging Technologies, Interventional Devices, Diagnostics, and Prognostics Toward Commercialization Program.
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