Made in California - Opportunity Zones

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Made in California

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Opportunity Zones; heard of them? We’re talking about them on this episode of Made in California We spent our first two episodes talking about inequality so that we’re all grounded in the fact that our economy, right now, isn’t working for everyone. This episode, we’re going to start looking at some of the ways we can deal with that. One idea that’s gotten a lot of attention recently is the opportunity zone program, which is a new tax incentive designed to re-invest private sector capital into low-income communities, communities which are too often neglected when it comes to investment and development. There’s a lot of promise to opportunity zones but also a lot of concern, especially in California, given the history we’ve had around Enterprise Zones. For example, will this program support economic development for current residents in these low-income communities or lead to their displacement? Will it lead to new investments or just give a tax break to investors who were going to invest anyway? We’re going to talk about Opportunity Zones at the national and state level and then later at the local level today. First up, a conversation with Steve Glickman, Greg Nelson and Dave Smith. Steve and Greg both worked on economic policy in the Obama Administration. Steve is one of the architects of the opportunity zone program. Greg currently leads strategy and operations for Parker Media and the Parker Foundation. Dave is the co-founder of Cal OZ, which is a non profit focused on opportunity zones in California.