All of VP classified as Opportunity Zone

A new program is giving low income areas and individuals an opportunity to start a business using trillions of dollars just sitting in the stock marked.
To qualify for the program, the area must be identified as an Opportunity Zone. Opportunity Zones are a bi-partisan effort, which began with former President Barack Obama and was implemented by President Donald Trump, to move capital gains money that is sitting on the side lines of our economy, according to the Acadiana Planning Commission.
Governor John Bel Edwards was tasked with selecting qualifying census tracts that were designated by the U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund as Law Income Community tracts to be Opportunity Zones.
The 150 tracts selected to be Opportunity Zones represented 25 percent of tracts eligible in the state of Louisiana.
According to Evangeline Parish Police Jury Secretary Treasurer Donald Bergeron, this program “will allow money in the stock market to be invested into businesses being started in Ville Platte.”
In Evangeline Parish, the area that has been named an opportunity zone consist of all of Ville Platte and a portion of the land north of the city up to Theophile Rd.
Along with these areas in Evangeline Parish, Lafayette, Church Point, Eunice, Opelousas, Abbeville, New Iberia and Breaux Bridge were also named Opportunity Zones.
In an email in regard to this, the Acadiana Planning Commission said, “We were excited when Governor Edwards made the OZ announcement. It was a very competitive process and we were hoping for at least few of the requested census tracts. At least one census tract in each parish in Acadiana was selected. We were shocked and thrilled as we were told by many that Baton Rouge and New Orleans would dominate this process. This created the opportunity for a regional strategy to be leveraged…” The e-mail continued, “Our town centers and the surrounding areas throughout Acadiana have been disinvested for many years. Blight and empty buildings are an issue for our entire region. We have been looking for tools and/or strategies that can help “Revitalize” our towns and our region. Layering and leveraging small and large resources and technical assistance, capacity building and project development will be the most effective path for APC to help support revitalization regionwide.
“We see the Opportunity Zone program as a tremendous catalyst or tool in our tool box to jump start the small efforts we have been able to put in place. We see this as an chance to not only attract outside investment into our most disinvested census tracts, but more importantly, to cultivate our local investors and investments throughout Acadiana. We also see One Acadiana, the Community Foundation of Acadiana and UL as natural partners in this initiative.”