08 Aug Hamm Consulting Group Joins White House Conference Call on Opportunity Zones
On August 2, Hamm Consulting Group participated on a White House conference call on Opportunity Zones conference call. The participants included the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Leagues of Cities, and locally elected officials from across the nation. Mayors Bryan Barnett (Rochester Hills, MI), Randall Woodfin (Birmingham, AL), John Giles (Mesa, AZ), Greg Fischer (Louisville, KY), and John Engen (Missoula, MT) and Councilmember Joe Buscaino (Los Angeles, CA) share their experience and advice around opportunity zones.
The conference call reiterated that opportunity zones represent powerful tools for economic and social development in communities most in need of investment. The key recommended actions and advice to opportunity Zone communities to proactively engage with their partners and attract investment include inventorying assets (infrastructure, etc.), developing and marketing a prospectus/vision and convening stakeholders for roundtables and discussion.
The Trump Administration has implemented a cross-agency approach to support Opportunity Zones. The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council (established by Executive Order 13853), led by Executive Director Scott Turner, is spearheading the Administration’s engagement on opportunity zones. As mentioned on the call, the Council is working to streamline efforts to incentivize opportunity zone development at the federal level. To date, the Council has identified over one‐hundred and sixty federal programs where targeting, preference, or additional support could be granted to Opportunity Zones. This list of those programs may be helpful to Opportunity Zones and their partners.
For more information, please contact Ron Hamm at rhamm@hammconsulting.wpengine.com or 202-596-8384.