Program Description
New Focus: Empowering
the Community
Established in 1994 by the Clinton Administration, Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/ECs) are the federal government's most recent comprehensive approach for addressing urban and rural community decline. The program focuses a combination of economic and community development strategies on specifically designated areas of the country in order to develop resources within those areas. Specifically EZ/ECs are meant to create opportunities for zone residents and businesses, increasing the number of employable and employed zone residents and the number of zone businesses. A major emphasis has been placed on empowering residents and including their ideas and voices in the process of rebuilding their communities; this is referred to as the "bottom-up" approach to community planning.
The Clinton Administration recognized the potential of this zone specific economic strategy and introduced the new and improved Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities program (Click here to go to EZ/EC Homepage). Tax credits to employers, and less restrictive regulations, strategies formally implemented under state Enterprise Zones have been restructured to fit the Clinton Administration's new focus on building community. In addition, matching grant funding is being utilized to maximize private investment in programs. Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) are funded by the federal government and are meant to be matched by local government and private funding. (Click here to link to a sampling of specific strategies.)
The program is meant to engage community members in the creation of innovative strategies and plans. It is divided into different levels of funding and program benefits to achieve its objectives. For more information, read the Program Description in the next section.
The EZ/EC program is divided into different levels of grant funding and tax incentives (see table below). Decreased government regulation in the form of streamlined permitting and licensing requirements is available in varying degrees to all designated zones and communities. Most programs have implemented some type of local government ombudsman to assist businesses through the development process. All funding is set up for a ten year experimental period.
| Empowerment Zones (Urban) | Empowerment Zones (Rural) | Empowerment Zones (Supplemental) |
| $100 million | $40 million | $22 million |
| Atlanta
Baltimore Camden-Philadelphia Chicago Detroit New York |
Kentucky Highlands
Mississippi Mid-Delta Texas Rio Grande Valley |
Cleveland
Los Angeles |
| Enterprise Communities (Urban) | Enterprise Communities (Rural) | Enterprise Communities (Enhanced) |
| $3 million | $3 million | $3 million |
| 65 communities | 33 communities | 2 communities |
FOR ALL LEVELS
The EZ/EC program is intended to be a holistic and comprehensive approach to community and economic development. In this way it is attempting to address one of the major criticisms levels at state and local enterprise zone programs.
The EZ/EC program also provides wage tax credits for employers who hire zone residents. In this way, the initiative is also seeking to address concerns about enterprise zones' failure to help those who need it most.
(Click here for information about criticisms of state and local programs.)
Finally, the EZ/EC program seeks to increase access to
resources for community residents. Its goal of community empowerment
applies not just to residents but also is intended to spur local government
innovation in leveraging federal and local funds to stimulate private capital
investment.
New Focus: Empowering the Community
The Clinton Administration is emphasizing the community building aspect of the program, and this focus is evident in the requirements for every stage of the program. The new approach emphasizes community participation at the local level. The "bottom up" approach calls community residents and business owners to participate in decision making that affects the community. Focus groups and public meetings are utiltized to bring stakeholders to the table to identify community assets. Building on community potential is the basic premise behind the approach. Community members are asked to identify the strengths within the community, including resident skills, business opportunities and most importantly, private investment for public/private partnerships.
The designation process is a new feature of this development strategy. In essence, communities self-select their zone based on the competitiveness and comprehensiveness of their application for designation.
Communities are required to:
In addition to identifying and building on existing community capacity, communities are required to create a benchmarking process for long term monitoring of programs. This feature is meant to improve the sustainability of programs, increase accountability of government agencies and improve the likelihood of meeting program goals.
The supply driven strategies are intended to build up
human capital in distressed areas, through grant funded support. Federal
grants are intended to be matched by local government and private funds
to improve basis education, skill levels and physical surroundings. Local
programs supported by these federal Social Services Block Grants (SSBGs)
include resident skill building, employee job training, community policing,
youth training/mentoring, job linkage and others (see below).