What Are Opportunity Zones

by: Michael Saunders

Opportunity Zones are an economic development tool that allows people to invest in distressed areas in the United States.

The purpose of the Opportunity Zone programs is to spur economic growth and job creation in low-income communities while providing tax benefits to investors.

Opportunity Zones were created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Thousands of low-income communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories are designated as Qualified Opportunity Zones.

Taxpayers can invest in these zones through Qualified Opportunity Funds.   (continued...)

What Are Opportunity Zones
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About The Author Michael Saunders is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants.com. He edits a site on Community Foundations that highlights the Social Progress Index for Counties around the country and Opportunity Zones within these foundations' areas of coverage.

Additional Government Grants Resources

Historically Underutilized Business Zones - HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program
The Small Business Administration has established the Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) Empowerment Contracting Program wherein they aim to provide federal contracting assistance to eligible small business corporations which are located in underutilized business zones so as to improve their employment opportunities, investments, and their area's economic development.

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The Future Leaders Exchange Program: Host Family and School Placement and Monitoring
The ECA has constituted the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program wherein it seeks to promote mutual understanding between the citizens of the United States of America and the inhabitants of Eurasia by way of sending secondary school students from Eurasia to live in an American community for a full academic year.

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Financing Your Education - Work Study Opportunities
The Federal Work-Study Program assists those undergraduate postsecondary students that cannot afford their educational expenses without financial assistance by providing them with part-time employment. Not only does the Federal Work-Study Program provide part-time employment, it also encourages these students to participate in community service activities.

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Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health: Integrating Mental Health into Chronic Disease Care Provision in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
The National Institutes of Health has recently formed a partnership with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in order to establish the Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health: Integrating Mental Health into Chronic Disease Care Provision in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Program.

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Research to Advance Vaccine Safety Program
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has partnered with the National Institutes of Health and as a result, has developed the Research to Advance Vaccine Safety Program, wherein it seeks to obtain a more thorough understanding vaccine safety.

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Department of Housing and Urban Development's Dollar Homes Program
The Dollar Homes Program revolves around the process of selling single family homes for a superbly reasonable price of $1 (plus closing cost) to low-to-moderate income families, granted that these houses have been acquired through foreclosure by the Federal Housing Administration, and have already been actively marketed for at least six months and still remained unsold after that certain period of time.

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Learning Disabilities Innovation Hubs Program
The National Institutes of Health has partnered with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to establish the Learning Disabilities Innovation Hubs Program where both agencies intend to solicit resource-related research project grant applications that concentrate on the etiology, manifestation, prevention, and remediation of writing, reading, or mathematics learning disabilities.

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