Southeastern Regional Opportunity Zone Summit
Opportunity Zones is a new initiative created under the 2017 Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which provides incentives for qualified investors to invest capital gains in distressed communities across the United States. The idea is based on bipartisan legislation originally introduced by Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Corey Booker (D-NJ).
According to estimates from the U.S. Treasury Department, up to $6 trillion in sidelined capital could move into 8700 eligible census tracts. But a known gap inhibiting future Opportunity Zone (OZ) program success will be the lack of a robust, investable pipeline of projects that Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds can invest in and achieve desired returns. This gap exists due to limited local public sector capacity to "speak" the language of investors.
The key to solving these challenges? Strong local technical assistance partners supporting the on-the-ground rapid training and deployment of state and local civil servants as OZ "deal jockeys" to help communities be OZ-ready. As deal jockeys, these civil servants would become cross-sectoral specialists who understand
While this new practitioner model is being piloted in a few localities now with philanthropic support, maximum community impact using the OZ incentive can best be accelerated by supporting Regional OZ Pilots designed to close longstanding public sector capacity gaps, catalyze desirable OZ deal flow and strengthen long-term community development for a new economic era.
