Changing the Narrative …

Communicating complex policy issues is hard. And sometimes it’s made all the more challenging when only one side of the story is dominating the narrative. This is what’s happening with Opportunity Zones — a new tax incentive program meant to benefit low-income communities that is yielding very mixed results thus far. But that’s not the whole story. Working with the National Development Council and the Washington State Department of Commerce, together we crafted an important op-ed published in the Seattle Times showing how the State of Washington is developing a model approach to guiding OZ investment where it’s needed most. Read …

Preserving Housing and a Community

This is why I love working with the National Development Council. This fifty-year-old nonprofit does the hard work that other economic development organizations just don’t know how to do. In this case, NDC worked for five years to help Scotland, a community in Potomac, MD — founded in the late 1800s by formerly enslaved people — to upgrade its housing while maintaining affordability in one of the most expensive counties in the US. Three previous attempts to upgrade the outmoded housing ended in frustration until NDC got involved. Providing both technical financial assistance and hands-on community building expertise, NDC’s field director …