Opportunity Zone Magazine Opportunity Zone Magazine Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 34

32 OPPORTUNITY ZONE MAGAZINE | VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 1 What’s the first order of business? Will investors be getting more regulatory guidance? First off, we’ll be going on listening tours throughout the country, going into local communities and listening to people — local officials, faith leaders, educational leaders, business leaders — in order to hear about the pain in their community, about what's needed, and about what strategies and potential these communities have. Because the people that are there locally are the ones leading the way — we’re just the facilitators. We want to get the rules and regulations squared away, and to have the opportunity to link different federal agencies across the country and coordinate our resources to help people out in our distress communities of America. I know that the Treasury is working very hard to make sure that there is great clarity, and that those rules will be coming out very soon. And I believe when that happens, when that clarity comes in, it will be full steam ahead. What have you been hearing so far? Well, you know, we’re just now getting started and obviously there's a lot of work to do. But people are excited about this — and not just those who will be investing, but also those in communities that will be part of the revitalization effort. There's a lot of excitement out there, and it makes me happy, because revitalization really starts in people’s hearts. Are there any major changes coming to the OZ program? No, we’re focusing on the program and the structure that we have at this point. Obviously, things are fluid, and we may tweak things here and there as we go around the nation and hear from communities, but as it stands right now, I believe we have a great team, and a great infrastructure in place. Will we be getting any guidance on whether cannabis projects can accept OZ capital? T h at’s s omet h i n g t h at at t h i s p oi nt I'm not re a l ly concentrating on. We’re all waiting to see the rules and regulations, which I think will give us great clarity on your question, and others that have come up. When we get the rules and the regulations I think that will bring a lot of transparency and clarity on these issues. A year from now, how will you judge whether the council has succeeded? We’ll be collecting data and analytics, so there's going to be accountability for what we're doing. A year from now, we'll be able to look back and see the people that have benefited, and OPPORTUNITYZONEEXPO.COM