The City of Dayton is launching a new, interactive dashboard highlighting the city's Opportunity Zones. The dashboard will allow entrepreneurs, developers, and investors to learn about Dayton's Opportunity Zones, including their locations and community assets.
Dayton has been a leader in positioning and promoting its designated zones. Recognizing the federal program's potential for spurring real estate and business investment, the City has been aggressive in marketing its zones to promote equitable development throughout the city. This online dashboard follows the publication of Dayton's Opportunity Zones prospectus, which has been used by city leadership to market Dayton's zones for potential investment around the country.
"The federal Opportunity Zone program creates a new incentive for investors and developers to take a closer look at Dayton," said Mayor Nan Whaley. "I'm proud of the work that City staff has done to showcase the City's zones and make sure we're competitive for new investment."
The Dayton Opportunity Zone dashboard was developed using the mySidewalk Platform, which the City's Office of Procurement, Management, and Budget already uses to track analytics.
"Dayton was the very first customer to use the mySidewalk platform to develop and communicate their Opportunity Zone Program," said Jennifer Funk, Director of Customer Success at mySidewalk. "Their work inspired us to develop our Opportunity Zone dashboard, which is now helping many other communities use data and storytelling to attract positive economic development. The Dayton Opportunity Zone Program is a national model for the future of economic development and community engagement."
The Opportunity Zone program was created as a part of the 2017 federal tax reform law. Designed as a way to drive investment into urban and rural areas that have struggled to recover post-recession, the law allows investors in designated zones to take advantage of capital-gains tax deferrals in return for long-term investments in low-income and high-poverty communities.
In Dayton, 17 census tracts have been designated as Opportunity Zones. These zones cover 40 percent of the city and contain more than 35 percent of the city's residents.
mySidewalk enables our customers to harness data, find critical insights, design impactful strategies, and tell compelling stories that empower change. With a growing library of best-practice report and dashboard templates supporting city management, fire and EMS performance management, resilience planning, public health assessments and improvement plans, transportation planning, economic development, and community development, mySidewalk is committed to helping local governments, cities, and community leaders track, analyze, and communicate data-driven insights in their communities.
Learn more about mySidewalk's Opportunity Zone Dashboards.