Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests to Develop Comprehensive Smart Growth Strategy for Philadelphia Opportunity Zones

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $500,000 grant to the Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to develop a comprehensive smart growth strategy needed to help attract new private investment to a traditionally underserved transit corridor. The project, to serve several Tax Cuts and Jobs Act designated Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $140,148 in local funds.

“The Trump administration is committed to supporting locally-devised strategies to boost economic opportunity,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming. “EDA’s investment in a comprehensive smart growth transit strategy for and within Opportunity Zones will bolster the local economy and drive new private investment to the community.”

The city of Philadelphia, Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, and the University City District, and local small businesses will partner with the Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation to create the transit corridor master plan.

The funding announced today goes to a designated Opportunity Zone, created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to spur economic development by giving tax incentives to investors in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone program, see the Treasury Department resources page here. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.