Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests to Support Business Education in New York

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $800,000 grant to TruFund Financial Services, Inc., of New York, New York to support the Hunts Point Growth and Resiliency Program. The two-year program will provide business education classes and one-on-one counseling led by TruFund staff and subject matter experts. The EDA grant project, to be located in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act designated Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $200,000 in local funds, generate an expected $1.3 million in private investment, and create or retain more than 135 jobs.

“Through this project, TruFund will help at least 30 companies on the Hunts Point peninsula obtain business growth and resiliency training, create and retain jobs, and build wealth in this economically distressed area of the Bronx,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming. “Its location in an Opportunity Zone will help encourage additional private investment into Hunts Point.”

The funding announced today goes to one of New York’s 514 Opportunity Zones. Created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to spur economic development by giving tax incentives to investors in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone program, see the Treasury Department resources page here. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.