U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Promise Zones Competition

In 2013, the President laid out an initiative to designate a number of high-poverty urban, rural, and tribal communities as Promise Zones, where the federal government will partner with and invest in communities to accomplish the following goals: Create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities, and reduce violent crime.

The Promise Zone designation creates partnerships between the Federal government and local leaders who are addressing multiple community revitalization challenges in a collaborative way and have demonstrated a commitment to results. Further, Promise Zones will be assigned Federal staff to help navigate the array of Federal assistance and programs already available to them. Eligible applicants in Promise Zones will receive any available preference for certain competitive Federal programs and technical assistance. Subject to enactment by Congress, businesses investing in Promise Zones or hiring residents of Promise Zones will be eligible to receive tax incentives. Altogether, this package of assistance will help local leaders accelerate efforts to revitalize their communities.

The Promise Zone designation will be for a term of 10 years and may be extended as necessary to capture the full term of availability of the Promise Zone tax incentives, if the tax incentives are enacted. During this term, the specific benefits made available to Promise Zones may vary from year to year, and sometimes more often than annually, due to changes in Federal agency policies and changes in appropriations and authorizations for relevant programs.

Amount: Benefits include assistance from Federal staff to navigate assistance programs; preference for competitive Federal programs; technical assistance; and, potentially, tax incentives (if enacted).

Eligibility: Varies by type of community:

• Urban Promise Zone designations: Units of General Local Government; an office/department of a local government submitting on behalf of the local government under a local delegation of authority; nonprofit organizations applying with the support of the Unit of General Local Government; and public housing agencies, community colleges, local education agencies (LEAs), or Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) applying with the support of the Unit of General Local Government.
• Rural and Tribal Promise Zone designations: Local governments (which includes county, city, town, township, parish, village, governmental authority or other general-purpose political subdivision of a state or combination thereof) and Federally-recognized tribes; nonprofit organizations applying in partnership with local government or tribal government; housing authorities applying in partnership with local government, or Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) applying in partnership with tribal government; or Local Education Agencies (LEAs) applying in partnership with local or tribal government; or community colleges applying in partnership with local or tribal government.

Link: http://1.usa.gov/1IzeyQP

Note: Informational webcasts/webinars will be held during the following times:

• Urban webinars: January 13, 2016 and February 1, 2016
• Rural webinar: January 13, 2016
• Tribal webinar: January 13, 2016

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