United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2006-09-22 monographic deposited born digital 28 p. GA 1.13:GAO-06-734SP https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP P0b002ee18039b565 f:d06734sp DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP GAO-06-734SP Community development programs Data collection Economic analysis Economic indicators Program evaluation Rural economic development Surveys Urban development programs Program implementation HUD Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Program Other Written Product A61332 This document presents the results of GAO's survey of federal Enterprise Communities (EC) that were designated in the first round of the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program in 1994. Round I ECs received $2.95 million in program grants and businesses in the ECs could use a program tax-exempt bond. The purpose of our survey was to collect data describing how Round I ECs implemented the program. Questionnaire items covered the types of governance structures ECs established, number of programs they implemented, usage of the program tax-exempt bond, and perceptions of factors influencing changes observed in poverty, unemployment, and economic growth in the ECs. We administered an e-mail survey to officials from the 60 Round I ECs--33 urban and 27 rural--that were still in operation as of June 2005 and did not receive additional designations under the Empowerment Zone or Renewal Community programs. We chose to exclude ECs that received subsequent designations, because we did not want their responses to be influenced by the benefits received under the additional designations. We created two versions of the questionnaire, one for urban ECs and another for rural ECs, to tailor items to urban or rural sites. For example, the urban version contained questions about the Enhanced EC designation, which was not asked of rural sites since the Enhanced EC designation was not applicable for rural areas. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP.pdf GAO-06-734SP https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-734SP Other Written Product GAO-06-734SP; Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Program: Survey of Round I Federal Enterprise Communities; Community development programs Data collection Economic analysis Economic indicators Program evaluation Rural economic development Surveys Urban development programs Program implementation HUD Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Program