V.2, N.45 - As the 2024 presidential election heats up, expect former President Donald Trump to boast about all the good he did for America’s communities by enacting “Opportunity Zones,” which provide significant tax benefits for developers who build in economically depressed areas. Our lead story summarizes a new report from Good Jobs First, evaluating the impact of 1,600 Opportunity Zone investments in Ohio totaling more than $1 billion.
Michael and Jen, are either of you seeing examples, however rare, of uses of Opportunity Zones paired with crowdfunding or other community capital initiatives? When I ran for Congress, I visited at length with some rural county commissioners about Opportunity Zones and together, we couldn't come up with a strategy to use them.
There's this grant-based crowdfunding example from Kentland, IA: https://kentland.in.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kentland-Prospectus-02112021.pdf. (See page 47.) While Michigan and other states have also teamed up with Patronicity -- I couldn't find any references that connected this approach to Opportunity Zones specifically. I'll see if Chris Miller has any other leads!
Happy to help! Also, Chris and Michael suggested reaching out to Brian Beckon to see if he has any leads. Hope you found time for some R&R this weekend -- you deserve it!
Did you see this new campaign? "Bircus Brewing Co. is seeking investment to expand to a new site in an Opportunity Zone and drive customers to our unique destination brewery." https://mainvest.com/b/bircus-brewing-co-ludlow
Michael and Jen, are either of you seeing examples, however rare, of uses of Opportunity Zones paired with crowdfunding or other community capital initiatives? When I ran for Congress, I visited at length with some rural county commissioners about Opportunity Zones and together, we couldn't come up with a strategy to use them.
There's this grant-based crowdfunding example from Kentland, IA: https://kentland.in.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kentland-Prospectus-02112021.pdf. (See page 47.) While Michigan and other states have also teamed up with Patronicity -- I couldn't find any references that connected this approach to Opportunity Zones specifically. I'll see if Chris Miller has any other leads!
Thank you so much! Very cool!
Happy to help! Also, Chris and Michael suggested reaching out to Brian Beckon to see if he has any leads. Hope you found time for some R&R this weekend -- you deserve it!
Thank you so much!
Did you see this new campaign? "Bircus Brewing Co. is seeking investment to expand to a new site in an Opportunity Zone and drive customers to our unique destination brewery." https://mainvest.com/b/bircus-brewing-co-ludlow
Very cool! Thanks for spotting that!
Thanks for the question, Devin. I haven't seen anything like this. But let's see if the crowd can help us answer your question!