Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines “synthetic,” among other things, as “devised, arranged, or fabricated for special situations to imitate or replace usual realities.” As the definition suggests, a “synthetic project development financing” (more commonly referred to as a “synthetic tax incr … Read more

Jeff Hughes is a Director of the School of Government’s Environmental Finance Center and a School of Government Faculty Member The Infrastructure Finance Section (IFS) of the North Carolina Department of the Environment and Natural Resources announced the release of their draft Intended Use Plan for … Read more

The STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise is located in Star, North Carolina. The organization is a product of the Central Park North Carolina Regional Partnership, a non-profit partnership between seven counties in the south-central region of North Carolina. The mission of both STARworks and Cen … Read more

One might say that the local foods movement or “locavorism” is all the rage. We’ve done several posts here on the CED Blog about local food systems as they relate to community economic development. I posted a while ago about the local foods movement as community economic development. Sybil Tate wrot … Read more

This is the first in a series of blog posts about communities deploying capital into small businesses. The following is an overview of a statewide program funded by the US Treasury; subsequent posts will focus on regional, county and municipal programs. The State Small Business Credit Initiative (SS … Read more

“I’m … proposing a Partnership to Rebuild America that attracts private capital to upgrade what our businesses need most: modern ports to move our goods; modern pipelines to withstand a storm; modern schools worthy of our children.” – POTUS in 2013 State of the Union  Prompted by the flooding brough … Read more

Blight City has fallen on hard times. Its population has declined significantly since the 1990s, due in large part to the shuttering of two large manufacturing plants. Emblematic of the city’s decline is its central downtown area. Once a vibrant community center, it is now comprised mainly of run-do … Read more

Community development efforts obviously depend on support by local financial actors.  Through the Community Reinvestment Act, banks and other financial institutions are monitored on how well they serve low and moderate income areas in the communities they serve.  One of the indicators regulators use … Read more

In the wake of the recent mega-storm Sandy, we hear a lot of discussion about “community resilience.” RAND Corporation defines community resilience as “the sustained ability of a community to utilize available resources to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations.”  Hurricanes, tor … Read more

The City of Clovis, New Mexico (population 40,000) will consider issuing $1.65 billion in Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRBs) to finance a power station that will connect the nation’s three major power grids (in the West, the East, and Texas). Private companies will develop and operate the Tres Amigas S … Read more