Speaking today alongside U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln and U.S Senator Mark Pryor, the Director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), Donna J. Gambrell, announced an award of $70 million in tax credit allocation authority that will spur private-sector investment in the economically distressed communities of Arkansas. Heartland Renaissance Fund (HRF) a subsidiary of Arkansas Capital Corporation, was awarded the $70 million in tax credits under the 2009 round of the New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) Program. The national award announcement for the full $5 billion in NMTCs available under the 2009 round will be made late next week. The announcement today was made in Arkansas to focus attention on Heartland Renaissance Fund’s record of financing healthcare, education, small businesses and other economic development projects in low-income communities across Arkansas and to demonstrate how the NMTC Program can benefit rural communities. The award will enable the Heartland Renaissance Fund to raise critically needed private-sector capital to provide financing as the country continues its economic recovery. “It is a true honor to announce this award with Senator Lincoln and Senator Pryor in Arkansas, where the Heartland Renaissance Fund has so clearly shown the transformational potential the New Markets Tax Credit Program has had for rural communities across the state,” said Director Gambrell. “We have seen again and again how the deep commitment of our partners has put underserved communities on the path to recovery and revitalization.” “I am proud to know that Heartland Renaissance Fund’s economic development successes in Arkansas helped it secure this award through the U.S. Treasury’s New Markets Tax Credit Program,” Senator Lincoln said. “When Congress was at work writing the economic recovery bill, I fought to ensure that additional funding was included in this program so that organizations such as Heartland serving rural states like Arkansas would receive their fair share. The $70 million in tax credits awarded today, and the $55 million awarded through the Recovery Act, will greatly enable Heartland Renaissance Fund to offer critical incentives to attract new investment for Arkansas’s businesses and for entrepreneurial development, particularly in our rural communities.” Heartland Renaissance Fund will utilize its award to provide flexible capital to health and education projects throughout economically distressed areas of Arkansas, with an emphasis on the Delta region. The $70 million in New Markets Tax Credits allocated to Heartland Renaissance Fund will help make capital accessible to businesses that cannot attract the necessary financing through customary sources – a traditional challenge for many businesses operating in low-income communities.
About New Markets Tax Credits
The New Markets Tax Credit Program promotes social investment in underserved communities by permitting taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in community development entities. In the seven rounds to date, the CDFI Fund has made 396 allocation awards totaling $21 billion in tax credit authority, including $1.5 billion in Recovery Act awards and $1 billion that was specifically set aside for recovery and redevelopment in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. For more information about the CDFI Fund, visit: http://www.cdfifund.gov.
