-- Wall Street’s obsession with a new tax break that rewards investment in low-income areas has raised doubts that the poor will benefit. Can a modest philanthropic effort change that?
Prudential Financial Inc. is contributing to the first award, which will provide $920,000 to Newark, New Jersey. The money will allow a local nonprofit, the Newark Alliance, to hire a chief opportunity zone officer who will be embedded with the city, and two “community engagement specialists.” The grant also comes with two years of technical assistance to help structure deals.
“We should have more public and philanthropic guardrails” to ensure the law helps low-income families and workers, said Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation. “We know making grants in six cities is not going to change the trajectory of the law right away,” he said, but ultimately it’s possible to “avoid some of the concerns that have been raised.”
oh sure they are.