1. Pass federal legislation that requires 15% of all federal infrastructure spending to be dedicated to opportunity zone development in America.
2. Require State and local governments that elect to receive federal funds also commit 15% of their local funds to opportunity zones locally.
In America today, approximately 15% of the population lives in poverty. Considering we’re the richest country in the world, the fact that practically 15% of our populace lives in poverty is completely unacceptable. The fundamental promise of the United States of America is the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; how can we deliver on the promise when over 46 million Americans are practically living in poverty?
Local communities across America are utilizing infrastructure projects to revitalize their poor communities, which are primarily located in Opportunity Zones. My company, LCPtracker, has had the privilege of monitoring the success of these programs over the last decade. These communities are leveraging technology to track hiring trends and target groups of individuals in the direst need of careers: minorities, veterans, the homeless, the formerly incarcerated, those with no GED, and teens that have “aged out” of foster care. These local programs have hired over 100,000 of these categories of workers from Opportunity Zones in the past 3 years. This experience birthed our vision to end poverty, and that vision brought about Project Astra.
To create a national commitment to invest 15% of all federal infrastructure spending into these disadvantage communities in order to promote their economic rebirth. We can take the lessons learned by these the local initiatives and implement them on a national scale, which will eliminate poverty altogether.