LISC Special Report: New Markets Support Company: Creating lasting change in struggling communities
Date Published: 02/11/2011
Author: LISC
The federal New Markets Tax Credit program, enacted and implemented in December 2000, tackles persistent blight in low-income communities. It has become an innovative tool for attracting private capital to neighborhoods starved for investment.
Excerpt:
Healthy communities have their own economic engines. Families shop at corner grocery stores. Office complexes bustle down the street from entertainment venues and recreational facilities. A range of local merchants provide goods and services, and create jobs. Together, they comprise vibrant commercial corridors that are a community’s economic backbone. And, as they thrive, they strengthen the citywide and regional economies to which they are so closely connected.But the same cannot be said in many low-income communities. Disinvestment and decay have left economic development efforts with little foothold. Entrepreneurs question the safety and business potential of the local market. Traditional lenders lament perceived financial risk.
The federal New Markets Tax Credit program mitigates those effects as it helps communities tackle persistent blight. Enacted and implemented in December 2000, the program has proven itself to be an innovative tool for attracting private capital to neighborhoods starved for investment. Through 2010, its 495 awards represent $26 billion in investment authority to support commercial projects in difficult-to-develop areas nationwide. Continued[+]...
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Topic: --New Markets Tax Credit
Type: Case study / model practice