Erie Homecoming 2019 is all about attracting investment in the Erie region, especially eight federal Opportunity Zones. The founder of Accelerator for America is Erie for the first time and already making the case.
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Many Americans see the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a windfall for the wealthy. But a piece of legislation within it, the Investing in Opportunity Act, has the potential to be a game changer for distressed communities in all 50 states. That promise can only be realized if the act works as intended, and some philanthropic leaders like the Rockefeller Foundation are keen to guide the law’s trajectory. That promise can only be realized if the act works as intended, and some philanthropic leaders like the Rockefeller Foundation are keen to guide the law’s trajectory.
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The public figures brought together by interest and excitement in Opportunity Zones make for a diverse lot. There’s David Robinson, the ten-time NBA All-Star and Founder of Admiral Capital, and “T. I.” Harris, the rapper and entrepreneur, alongside Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. Other notable attendees who spoke to the Sorenson Impact Center at the Forbes Opportunity Zones Summit in Newark this May included JD Vance, a venture capitalist and the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” and Shamina Singh, Founder and President of the Center for Inclusive Growth and a Mastercard Executive Vice President, among others. Despite their diverse backgrounds, these individuals all spoke to a common theme: the potential for Opportunity Zones to unite communities and empower them to shape their own future.
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Are colleges and universities an untapped resource for Opportunity Zone development? Learn more.
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Birmingham and Alabama’s Opportunity Zone projects are about to go under another national magnifying glass. Birmingham-based nonprofit initiative Opportunity Alabama is partnering with The Opportunity Exchange out of Cleveland, Ohio, to use an impact-tracking and investment pipeline management platform for projects in Alabama’s 158 Opportunity Zones.
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The economists assembled by Economic Innovation Group proposed designating these distressed communities “Opportunity Zones” and offering investors incentives to funnel capital into revitalization projects. The concept drew the support of a bipartisan congressional coalition led by Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representatives Pat Tiberi (R-OH) and Ron Kind (D-WI), with a group of almost 100 cosponsors. The legislation was eventually included in the broader overhaul of the tax code signed into law in 2017.
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Communities across the United States are mobilizing around an ambitious place-based economic incentive – the Investing in Opportunity Act, a part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. By some estimates, this incentive could help direct hundreds of billions of dollars into 8,700 of America's most impoverished neighborhoods designated as "Opportunity Zones." We must, however, approach this program with honesty and humility.
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Earlier this week, a roomful of business, civic and policy leaders convened at the Union League for the type of conversation that happens far too seldom in Moscow on the Delaware: A discussion between bold-face name stakeholders of differing philosophical perspectives entitled “Priorities for Growth: Balancing Competitiveness and Inclusion.”
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A coalition of cities committed to using open-source technology have launched the Open Mobility Foundation (OMF) to help develop and deploy digital mobility tools and put in the place governance to manage them. The non-profit brings together academic, commercial, advocacy and municipal stakeholders and its work is underpinned by a Mobility Data Specification (MDS) platform that the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) developed to help manage dockless micro-mobility solutions.
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The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is hosting a summit to introduce potential investors to federally designated "opportunity zones" that are ready for revitalization.
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A decade from now, how will we know if Opportunity Zones actually helped people? That question is on the minds of community leaders and investors nationwide, from Alabama to the corridors of power in Washington and across the pages of business journals (including ImpactAlpha’s in-depth coverage).
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A new coalition co-founded by Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, wants to change the way you think about the Golden State. The goal is to shift perceptions about the state’s overlooked “backbone” region — Inland California — and shine a light on its potential as a site of innovation and opportunity, Ramakrishnan said.
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The city hosted a conference Wednesday to teach community leaders how the city’s new “opportunity zones” could help draw new development to Waterloo.
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New York-based non-profit Rockefeller Foundation and Prudential Financial recently announced the city of Newark will be the beneficiary of a $5.5 million initiative to spur responsible private investment through the federal Opportunity Zone program.
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A common thread throughout the Forbes Opportunity Zones Summit in Newark this week: Ensuring those living and working in Opportunity Zones are empowered to use the tax incentive to take an ownership stake in their own neighborhoods.
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The Rockefeller Foundation will spend $5.5 million to help cities take advantage of the opportunity zone program created in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Separately, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Accelerator for America announced they will partner to help direct opportunity zone investment to distressed communities. The partnership includes an $850,000 grant from the Mastercard Impact Fund, as well as data science work, economic development tools and research.
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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) and the City of Norfolk a $30M Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) Grant for the Tidewater Gardens community in the St. Paul’s Area.
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The annual Erie Homecoming event sponsored by the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership sprang from a sound impulse and promising model crafted in another on-the-ropes Rust Belt city, Detroit.
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Densely populated cities—many of which already face displacement pressures and offer limited opportunities for low-income communities—are bracing themselves. An estimated $7 trillion in investments are anticipated to flow to low-income census tracts through Opportunity Zone tax incentives.
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In 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, President Trump outlined a vision for encouraging investment in poorer areas throughout the nation. Those areas were dubbed Opportunity Zones. The idea was to incentivize investments by redirecting money subject to capital gains taxes to poorer census tracts. Instead of paying upwards of 22 percent on assets sold at a profit to the government, developers can invest in real estate projects or small businesses in qualified areas, and keep those capital gains in their pocket for a time.
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