CohnReznick, a leading advisory, assurance, and tax firm, has announced the publication of “The Guide to Making Opportunity Zones Work,” a “one-stop” resource for stakeholders utilizing the federal program.

The book is authored by Ira Weinstein, managing principal and Opportunity Zones (OZs) practice leader at CohnReznick, and Steve Glickman, founder and CEO of Develop, an advisory firm dedicated to building and supporting OZ funds.

Many experts inside and outside CohnReznick contributed to the book with the goal of helping potential stakeholders improve their understanding of the larger OZ ecosystem, foster a more informed dialogue among these stakeholders, and help each understand the role they can play in facilitating impact on low-income communities, according to the firms.

OZs, a bipartisan initiative developed by the Economic Innovation Group and championed by Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and enacted through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, are designed to stimulate economic development and job creation by incentivizing long-term private investments in low-income neighborhoods.

“The marketplace needs a resource that offers a primer of the various terms, tests, and other rules specific to the world of OZs along with individual chapters offering insights for specific OZ stakeholders—fund managers, real estate developers, entrepreneurs, etc.,” Weinstein said.

“As COVID-19 and the pandemic-induced recession continues to have a disproportionate impact on low-income communities—many of the same places that failed to recover from the 2008-09 recession—the need for public and private investment has never been greater,” Glickman added. “Opportunity Zones are one of the rare bipartisan economic development tools, which has unlimited capacity to create new housing, new jobs, and new potential for the places America left behind. This book is designed to catalyze those efforts by helping stakeholders navigate federal regulations, know how the OZ market really works, and understand how we can collectively make it work better."

The Guide to Making Opportunities Zones Work” is available on Amazon.com.