The new Opportunity Zones program is one to watch as states around the country throw their hats in the ring.
Ohio Governor John Kasich has announced several opportunity zones in the state—the designation makes those parts of the states eligible for a new federal program aimed at increasing investment in low-income and under-served neighborhoods.
The Opportunity Zones program creates Qualified Investment Funds, which generates funding by attracting investors in return for deferred taxes. On the other side of the equation, low-income rural and urban communities are looking at the possibility of a potentially large pot of money to invest into their communities.
One of the big questions when the 2017 GOP tax reform bill created the new program was what kinds of Census tracts would be eligible for program. A few governors, tasked with designating eligible opportunity zones, have now started to reveal their thinking on the program. After Texas announced their opportunity zones in February, Governor Kasich followed with Ohio's list.
Nick Swartsell reports on Governor Kasich's announcement of 320 eligible Census tracts around the state, focusing on the nominated census tracts in the city of Cincinnati. "Kasich's administration's local recommendations for the program encompass Census tracts in Avondale, Bond Hill, Camp Washington, Corryville, South Cumminsville, Evanston, North and South Fairmount, Madisonville, parts of the Price Hill neighborhoods, Northside, Queensgate and the West End," according to Swartsell.
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