Opportunity Zones and the Challenge of Addressing Our Economic Divides

This year’s launch of Opportunity Zones could unleash a flood of investment into low-income communities across the country. But who will this opportunity benefit? While the nation’s economy is booming, that economic growth has been geographically concentrated. Since 2008, more than 2.5 million new jobs were created in the most prosperous ZIP codes, while the least prosperous areas lost nearly 1.5 million jobs, according to research from the Economic Innovation Group. New jobs have flowed into cities, with rural areas across the country still yet to fully recover from the Great Recession. And within cities prosperity is not broadly shared; income inequality is higher in large cities than the country as a whole and wealth inequality has a large and persistent racial bias. Opportunity Zone investments have the potential to address these economic divides by supporting small business growth and local ownership in communities that have thus far been left out of the recovery. But effort and expertise are needed to ensure that these investments create opportunities that reach people in the targeted communities, and that they extend to women, people of color, those who have been involved with the justice system, and others who have traditionally faced barriers to economic opportunity. This event explores these issues and considers ideas to focus Opportunity Zone investments in ways that will create jobs and wealth for communities and support small business development and ownership in places that have for too long been left on the sidelines of the economy. This event features Tai Cooper (Managing Director, Policy and Advocacy, New Jersey Economic Development Authority), Tomás Durán (President, Concerned Capital), Kenan Fikri (Director for Research, Economic Innovation Group), Maurice Jones (President and CEO, LISC), and moderator Joyce Klein (Director, FIELD at the Aspen Institute). This event is part of the Working in America series, an ongoing discussion series hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program that highlights an array of critical issues affecting low- and moderate-income workers in the United States and ideas for improving and expanding economic opportunities for working people. For more information, visit as.pn/workinginamerica. The Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. We recognize that race, gender, and place intersect with and intensify the challenge of economic inequality and we address these dynamics by advancing an inclusive vision of economic justice. For over 25 years, EOP has focused on expanding individuals’ opportunities to connect to quality work, start businesses, and build economic stability that provides the freedom to pursue opportunity. Learn more at as.pn/eop.