WASHINGTON – A new online tool developed at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business to help economic and community developers in areas identified as Opportunity Zones is being praised by a top official at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The USA Opportunity Zones tool was created by the Indiana Business Research Center at Kelley for the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, which announced the tool’s launch on Jan. 14.
“This new web-based mapping tool will help investors and economic developers target investment toward Opportunity Zones to effect positive, socially-conscious change in these communities,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming.
It is designed to provide support to the more than 390 EDA-designated Economic Development Districts across the country, as well as those fostering long-term private sector investments in low-income communities in more than 8,700 opportunity zones nationwide. These include 156 Opportunity Zones in Indiana.