Opportunity Zone Magazine Opportunity Zone Magazine Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 63

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE INVESTING IN OPPORTUNITY ZONES Triple Bottom Line Investing in Opportunity Zones: Financial Return, Economic Activity, Job Creation & Positive Social Impact By Deborah J. Burns A triple bottom line Opportunity Fund investment strategy builds on the double bottom line metrics but invests in businesses and projects that have a positive social impact on the community. S imilar to when the EB-5 program was created, there are high hopes that the Opportunity Zone legislation will lead to investments in distressed communities and neighborhoods throughout the United States. However, the EB-5 program, created to stimulate foreign investment in targeted employment areas throughout the U.S., also saw funds flow into luxury high-rise buildings in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Miami. Now congress has tried again to stimulate investment in distressed areas by passing The Investing for Opportunity Act of 2017. This law offers significant tax advantages to investors who put capital into distressed areas known as Opportunity Zones. The question now is: Will Opportunity Zone investments have the intended impact on distressed communities or will it succumb to the same forces that have driven other federal economic development programs to be limited to major cities? OPPORTUNITYZONEMAGAZINE.COM 61