RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the New Markets Tax Credit Program was established as part of the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000, which incentivizes business and real estate investment in low-income communities of the United States via a federal tax credit for businesses and development projects in areas with high rates of poverty and unemployment; and
WHEREAS, the program is administered by the United States Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and allocated by local Community Development Entities (CDEs) across the United States including in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, nationally between 2003 and 2015, $42 billion in direct new markets tax credit (NMTC) investments were made in businesses and these NMTC investments leveraged nearly $80 billion in total capital investment to businesses and revitalization projects in communities with high rates of poverty and unemployment; and
WHEREAS, the NMTC investment injects $200 million into Chicago developments each year, concentrated on the City's West and South sides; and
WHEREAS, according to Crain's Chicago Business, the NMTC is vital for qualifying developments, accounting for a quarter of their financing, with the rest coming from other private and public sources; and
WHEREAS, the NMTC has helped finance 123 Chicago developments since being implemented in 2001, whose costs totaled $1.6 billion, many of which would not have been possible without the credit; and
WHEREAS, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a local CDE, has been able to deploy $80 million to hospitals, industrial facilities, charter schools and community centers since 2010 and created 700 permanent jobs and 1,500 construction jobs; and
WHEREAS, the NMTC has supported transformative neighborhood developments, such as the Whole Foods in Englewood, Method Factory in Pullman, Metrosquash in Woodlawn, and Breakthrough Urban Ministries in Garfield Park; and
WHEREAS, the NMTC made possible Testa Produce's new Back of the Yards di...
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