Renewal Community and Empowerment Zone Programs

The purpose of this program is to establish Renewal Communities (RCs) and Empowerment Zones (EZs) in certain distressed urban and rural areas, to reduce poverty and to stimulate business growth, job creation, and other aspects of economic and community development primarily through billions of dollars in tax incentives for businesses to hire residents of these communities, expand their facilities, and upgrade their equipment needs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has designated 40 RCs in one competition to date. Twenty-eight of these RCs are in urban areas and twelve are in rural areas. HUD has designated 30 EZs to date in three separate competitions and all of these EZs are in urban areas. No RC or EZ has more than 200,000 residents. More information regarding the objectives of the Renewal Community and Empowerment Zone programs is available at www.hud.gov/cr. The tax incentives are described in IRS Publication 954 and on IRS forms including forms 8844 and 8850. total area of the noncontiguous parcels must not exceed 2,000 acres; (f) Is located entirely within the jurisdiction of the unit or units of general local government making the nomination, and is located in no more than two contiguous States; and (g) Does not include any portion of a central business district, as this term is used in the most recent Census of Retail Trade, unless the poverty rate for each census tract in the district is not less than 35 percent.

Types of Assistance: PROJECT GRANTS;DIRECT PAYMENTS FOR SPECIFIED USE