About OZAA

Opportunity Zone Association of America (OZAA) is the national platform for Opportunity Zone stakeholders including funds, businesses, investors, service providers, policy makers, municipalities and non-profits/foundations. OZAA supports these stakeholders, and the professionals they rely on, by providing multiple venues for information exchange, networking, sharing of best practices, and policy discussions.

The association promotes the Opportunity Zone industry by bringing local opportunities, and their stakeholders, together with the national policy conversation; informing and updating policy makers with supporting data on projects in Opportunity Zone census tracts.

OZAA, through focus groups, roundtables, and regular convenings seeks to understand project data–what project sponsors are willing and able to share, what communities and policy makers want to see, and how best to distribute that information. From information collection to visualization and reporting, OZAA will work with stakeholders to tell the story of Opportunity Zone success.

About The Program

The Opportunity Zone (OZ) Program was created as a part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017 and incentivizes investors to invest into qualified low-income communities. Following the creation of the program, Governors of U.S. States and Territories (and the mayor of the District of Columbia), were responsible for nominating census tracts that meet certain predefined qualifications (see OZAA Q&As for more details). In June 2018, Treasury approved those nominations. With the first tranche of proposed regulations released on October 19, 2018, and published on October 29, 2018, the Opportunity Zone program is still going through the rule making process, with clarity still needed regarding certain aspects of the program.

The Opportunity Zone Program can become one of the nation’s greatest economic development tools–incentivizing and facilitating meaningful investments in communities that need it most.