For Communities

The State of Arkansas has 85 designated Opportunity Zones. The interactive map below shows the designated Zones. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission provides a similar tool with relevant demographic information.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provides multiple income tax incentives to taxpayers who invest realized capital gains (i.e., income from the sale of a capital asset) in a Qualified Opportunity Fund, which must quickly invest a substantial portion of the eligible gains into qualified projects within an Opportunity Zone.

Given those income tax incentives, Qualified Investment Funds could inject billions of dollars of private capital to develop projects in Opportunity Zones in low-income, rural, or distressed communities that would not otherwise receive those investments.

Though Opportunity Zones are considered one of the largest economic development initiatives in U.S. history ¹, communities and leaders must be equipped with the proper knowledge and have a clear strategy to leverage this initiative for true, equitable and sustainable growth.

Our qualified team of community developers, economic developers, and Opportunity Zones industry professionals can help in a variety of ways:

• Provide training to you and fellow community members about how Opportunity Zones work.
• Provide targeted technical assistance about Opportunity Zones.
• Help you develop a comprehensive strategy to attract Qualified Opportunity Funds to invest in qualified projects within your community’s Opportunity Zone(s).
• Help you identify, assess, and promote qualified projects in your community’s Opportunity Zone(s).
• Connect you with other experts, investors, and organizations for support.

If your community is home to an Opportunity Zone, please contact us for more information and support.

Opportunity Zones were based on low-income community census tracts, defined in Section 45D of the Internal Revenue Code. To be eligible, census tracts had to meet either a poverty rate of at least 20 percent or median family incomes below 80 percent of the regional average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011-2015 American Community Survey ².

Governors of every U.S. state and territory nominated up to 25 percent of low-income census tracts to be certified as Opportunity Zones by the Secretary of the Treasury. Governors were also allowed to nominate a small number (five percent) of moderate-income census tracts neighboring to qualifying low-income tracts as a way to develop sound economic zones and account for local priorities ³.

Opportunity Zone designations were certified in the Spring of 2018 and will remain in effect for 10 years. Currently, no policy avenues exist to modify Opportunity Zone census tracts ⁴.