[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 74 (Thursday, April 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21785-21787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-08772]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. 5774-N-01]


Promise Zones Initiative: Proposed Second Round Selection Process 
Solicitation of Comment

AGENCY: Office of Community Planning and Development, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Through this notice, HUD solicits comment, for a period of 60-
days, on the proposed selection process, criteria and submissions for 
the second round of the Promise Zone initiative.

DATES: Comments Due Date: June 16, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Questions or comments should be directed by email to 
[email protected] with ``Second Round Promise Zone selections'' in 
the subject line. Questions or comments may also be directed by postal 
mail to the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic 
Development, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 
Seventh Street SW., Room 7136, Washington, DC 20410 ATTN: 2nd Round 
Promise Zone selections.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brooke Bohnet, U.S. Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Washington, DC, 
20410; telephone number 202-402-6693. This is not a toll-free number. 
Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this number 
through TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at (800) 
877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background--Round 1 Promise Zones

    In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama announced 
the establishment of the Promise Zones initiative to partner with high-
poverty communities across the country to create jobs, increase 
economic security, expand educational opportunities, increase access to 
quality, affordable housing, and improve public safety.\1\ On January 
8, 2014, the President announced the first five Promise Zones, which 
are located in: San Antonio, TX; Philadelphia, PA; Los Angeles, CA; 
Southeastern Kentucky, KY; and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, OK. Each 
of these communities (three urban, one rural and one tribal) submitted 
a plan on how they will partner with local business and community 
leaders to make investments that reward hard work and expand 
opportunity. In exchange, the Federal government is helping these 
Promise Zone designees secure the resources and flexibility they need 
to achieve their goals.\2\
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    \1\ See http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/15/fact-sheet-president-s-plan-ensure-hard-work-leads-decent-living.
    \2\ See http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/08/fact-sheet-president-obama-s-promise-zones-initiative.
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    The first five Promise Zones were selected through a competitive 
process following an invitation to eligible communities to apply for a 
designation, which was issued on October 30, 2013 with an application 
deadline of November 26, 2013.\3\ The urban designations were conferred 
by HUD while the rural and tribal designations were conferred by USDA. 
The pool of

[[Page 21786]]

eligible applicants was limited to communities with demonstrated 
capacity in one or more areas of Promise Zones' work that would prepare 
them to broaden their efforts to additional revitalization priorities. 
Specifically, urban eligibility was limited to communities encompassing 
a Choice Neighborhoods or Promise Neighborhoods implementation grant, 
or a Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation grant, while rural and tribal 
eligibility was limited to communities encompassing a Stronger 
Economies Together, Sustainable Communities, Promise Neighborhoods 
Implementation, or Rural Jobs Accelerator grant.
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    \3\ See www.hud.gov/promisezones.
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Promise Zones Benefits

    The Promise Zones designation enables the Federal government to 
partner with local leaders who are addressing multiple community 
revitalization challenges in a collaborative way and have demonstrated 
a commitment to results. Specifically, Federal staff will be stationed 
in each designated community to help navigate the array of Federal 
assistance which Promise Zones can access, subject to the availability 
of appropriations and Federal agency rules and statutes. This level of 
engagement will help communities make the most of funding that is 
already available to them. In addition, organizations contributing to 
Promise Zone strategies will receive preference for certain competitive 
Federal programs, as permissible under the rules and statutes of the 
individual programs and agencies, and subject to appropriations. 
Organizations contributing to Promise Zone strategies will also receive 
technical assistance and other non-competitive support, again subject 
to available funding and as permissible under individual program and 
Federal agency rules and statutes. Businesses investing in Promise 
Zones or hiring residents of Promise Zones will also be eligible to 
receive tax incentives for these activities, if the tax incentives are 
enacted by Congress. Altogether, this package of assistance will help 
local leaders accelerate efforts to revitalize their communities.
    The Promise Zone designation will be for a term of 10 years, and 
will be extended as necessary to capture the full term of availability 
of the Promise Zone tax incentives, if the tax incentives are enacted. 
During this term, the specific benefits made available to Promise Zones 
may vary from year to year, and sometimes more often than annually, due 
to changes in Federal agency policies, and changes in appropriations 
and authorizations for relevant programs.

Second Round Promise Zones Selection Process

    A second round of Promise Zone designations is now being planned to 
open for solicitation in 2014 with announcements expected in early 
2015. A total of 20 Promise Zone designations will be made by the end 
of 2016, including the five designations announced in January, 2014. We 
anticipate making at least five and as many as 15 total designations in 
the second round in the urban, rural and tribal categories, depending 
on resources available.
    Due to the nature of the initiative, Promise Zone activities are 
likely to be carried out by a variety of organizations and organization 
types. Eligible lead applicants for Urban Promise Zone designations 
are: Units of General Local Government \4\ (UGLG or local government) 
including an office or department within local government; or non-
profit organizations, housing authorities or school districts applying 
in partnership with local government. Eligible lead applicants for 
Rural and Tribal Promise Zone designations are: Local or tribal 
governments (which includes county, city, town, township, parish, 
village, governmental authority or other general-purpose political 
subdivision of a state or tribe or any combination thereof); offices/
departments within local government; non-profit organizations applying 
in partnership with local government; housing authorities applying in 
partnership with local government; or school districts applying in 
partnership with local government.
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    \4\ Unit of general local government as defined in section 
102(a)(1) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 
U.S.C. 5302(a)(1)). See definition (a)(1) Unit of General Local 
Government.
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    The selection process under consideration is that any community 
meeting the qualifying criteria set forth in the Second Round 
Application Guide would be eligible to apply for Promise Zone 
designation. All of the following must be present in an application for 
a proposed Urban Promise Zone to be eligible for a designation: (1) The 
Promise Zone must encompass one or more census tract(s) or portions of 
census tracts across a contiguous geography; (2) The rate of overall 
poverty or Extremely Low Income rate (whichever is greater) of 
residents within the Promise Zone must be over 33 percent; (3) Promise 
Zone boundaries must encompass a population of at least 10,000 but no 
more than 200,000 residents; and (4) Local leadership, including the 
mayors of jurisdictions represented in the Promise Zone, must 
demonstrate commitment to the Promise Zone effort. No substantive or 
technical corrections will be accepted or reviewed after the 
application deadline. The draft Second Round Application Guide can be 
found at www.hud.gov/promisezones.
    Under the second round process under consideration, only one 
Promise Zone application may be submitted within a UGLG per application 
cycle. If more than one application is submitted for a Promise Zone 
meeting the qualifying criteria, the one submitted with local 
government support will be accepted. If more than one application is 
submitted with local government support, all of the applications from 
that UGLG will be disqualified for the current application cycle. If a 
Promise Zone designated in Round 1 is located within a UGLG in which a 
new application is being made, the applicant is directed to include an 
explanation of how, if a second Promise Zone designation is made, the 
UGLG plans to work with all of the Promise Zone designees at the same 
time and sustain the level of effort, resources and support committed 
to each Promise Zone under its respective Promise Zone plan for the 
full term of each Promise Zone designation. This explanation should be 
evidenced by commitments from the UGLG in materials submitted by the 
mayor or local official in support of the application.

Solicitation of Comment

    Prior to commencement of the second round of designations, HUD 
seeks to take advantage of experience with the first round applicants 
to develop aspects of the Promise Zones initiative, so that the 
initiative can support other communities more effectively in future 
years. In this regard, HUD welcomes feedback from first round 
applicants, and comment from other interested parties and the public 
generally, on the first round of the Promise Zones initiative, and on 
the proposed selection process for the second round of the Promise Zone 
initiative. HUD specifically seeks comment on the draft Second Round 
Application Guide, which can be found at www.hud.gov/promisezones. 
After fully considering comments, a final draft Second Round 
Application Guide may be posted at least 30 days before final 
application materials are posted.


[[Page 21787]]


    Dated: April 10, 2014.
Valerie Piper,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development.
[FR Doc. 2014-08772 Filed 4-16-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P