For new Opportunity Zone Communities, The Next Step Starts Now

Thousands of U.S. communities recently earned Opportunity Zone 2.0 (OZ) designation, equipping them with tools to help attract investment, create jobs, and enhance quality of life for their residents. For those communities, the next challenge will be making sure they stand out from the crowd to attract that investment.  

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service recently announced 6,576 qualified OZ census tracts. The designation will provide attractive tax incentives for qualifying investments, but communities will still need to make the case for why their locations, properties, workforce and opportunities deserve investors’ attention. They’ll be competing against thousands of other OZ communities that offer similar advantages as well as communities that do not have OZ designations but will still make a case to win investment.

Golden Shovel Agency can help. As the leading marketing and communications partner dedicated exclusively to economic development, we have the knowledge, the experience, and the insights to help communities attract investment with innovative strategies and marketing solutions that work regardless of budget. Golden Shovel Agency helps strengthen communities by empowering economic developers with resources to capitalize on their Opportunity Zone designation and drive growth. We’ll help you identify compelling answers to questions like: 

• Why invest here? What industries, businesses, properties and community assets create attractive opportunities?
• What makes this location different? How do your workforce, infrastructure, transportation connections and other competitive advantages support investment?
• Is your community ready? Can investors easily find reliable property information, market data and the contacts they need to evaluate opportunities?
• How will investors find you? Are you actively promoting your Opportunity Zone to the audiences most likely to invest?

If you’d like to know how Golden Shovel Agency can help tell a compelling story, create investor-ready digital resources, reach your ideal audience, showcase investment potential and make the most of your marketing budget, call us at (888) 266-4778 or submit a request for information on our website.

OZ 2.0 By the Numbers

According to an analysis by Economic Innovation Group, California has the most designated tracts with 620. Texas is second with 608. All told, the approved tracts are home to 22.9 million people, about 6.8 percent of the country’s population. Nearly 40% of approved tracts – 2,594 in total – are rural. Approved tracts also have: 

• An average poverty rate of 26.8 percent, more than double the national average;
• An average median family income of $60,940; and 
• Lower educational attainment rates.