The Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) program is Federal Executive Branch initiative designed to afford communities real opportunities for growth and revitalization. Its mission: To create self-sustaining, long-term economic development in areas of pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress, and to demonstrate how distressed communities can achieve self-sufficiency through innovative and comprehensive strategic plans developed and implemented by alliances among private, public and nonprofit entities. The rural portion of the program is administered through the Office of Community Development, part of USDA's Rural Development mission area.

Key Principles

The framework of the EZ/EC program is embodied in four key principles.

1. Economic Opportunity: The first priority in revitalizing distressed communities is to create economic opportunities- jobs and work- for all residents. The creation of jobs, both within the community and throughout the region, provides the foundation on which residents will become economically self-sufficient and communities can revitalize themselves. Opportunities for entrepreneurial initiatives, small business expansion, and training for jobs that offer upward mobility are other key elements for providing economic opportunity and direction.
2. Sustainable Community Development: The creation of jobs is the first critical step toward the creation of a livable and vibrant community where human initiative, work, and stable families can flourish. However, economic development can only be successful when part of a coordinated and comprehensive strategy that includes physical development as well as human development. A community where streets are safe to walk, the air and water are clean, housing is secure, and human services are accessible, and where a vital civic spirit is nurtured by innovative design, is a community that can be a source of strength and hope to its residents. A community where learning is a commitment for life can foster the skills, habits of mind, and attitudes that will make work rewarding and families nurturing. The Presidential Empowerment Initiative seeks to empower communities by supporting local plans that coordinate economic, physical, environmental, community, and human development.
3. Community-Based Partnerships: The road to economic opportunity and community development starts with broad participation by all segments of the community. The residents themselves, however, are the most important elements of revitalization. Others may include the political and governmental leadership, community groups, health and social service groups, environmental groups, religious organizations, the private and nonprofit sectors, centers of learning, and other community institutions. Communities cannot succeed with public resources alone. Private and nonprofit support and involvements are critical to the success of a community seeking revitalization. Partners also must be created within and among the levels of government. Government departments and agencies on all levels must work together to ensure that relevant programs and resources can be used in a coordinated, flexible, and timely fashion to help implement the community's strategic plan and that regulatory and other barriers to sustainable growth are removed. Through the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community process, the Federal government offers a compact with communities and State and local governments: if you plan comprehensively and strategically for real change, if the community designs and drives the course, we, the Federal government, will waive burdensome regulations whenever possible, and work with you to make our programs responsive to your plan.
4. Strategic Vision for Change: A bold and innovative vision for change describes what the community wants to become — for example, the community may envision itself as a center for emerging technologies with links to a nearby university or community college; a key export center for certain farm products, customized manufacturing goods, or health and other human services; or a vibrant residential area focused around an active local school, with access to jobs, retail markets, recreation, and entertainment. The vision for change is a comprehensive strategic map for revitalization. It is a means to analyze the full local context and the linkages to the larger region. It builds on the community's assets and coordinates its response to its needs — such as public safety, human and social services, and environmental protection. It integrates economic, physical, environmental, community, and human development in a comprehensive and coordinated fashion so that families and communities can work together and thrive. A strategic plan also sets real goals and performance benchmarks for measuring progress and establishes a framework for assessing how new experience and knowledge can be incorporated on an ongoing basis into a successful plan for revitalization.

Round II/Round III Empowerment Zone & Enterprise Community Initiative History

Round II was enacted into law by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. That act established 15 new urban and 5 new rural Empowerment Zones. The eligibility requirements for Round II were somewhat changed from Round I. A simpler method of determining poverty was adopted. Indian reservation lands were made eligible for Round II (they had been excluded by statute from Round I), and one new rural Zone could be designated based on population "emigration." The act did not appropriate grant funds as had been available to Round I EZs and ECs, but did make available a package of tax benefits that was somewhat less generous than the Round I package. The Administration sought full funding for the Round II Zones at the same level as Round I. Based on that proposal, competition for Round II designations was announced on April 16, 1998, with an application deadline of October 9. In October, Congress appropriated first year grants of $2 million to each of the 5 rural Zones and authorized an additional 20 rural Enterprise Communities and provided them with $250,000 in first year funding.

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Philosophy of the Empowerment Zone & Enterprise Community Initiative

This program is seen as just as the first step in rebuilding poverty-stricken communities in America's rural heartland. It is designed to empower people and communities all across the Nation by inspiring Americans to work together to create jobs and opportunity. J. Norman Reid in his report published in Rural Development Perspectives, volume 14, number 1, says about the EZ/EC initiative, ‘The 1993 legislation creating the Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities program represents a departure in Federal policy toward developing low-income rural and urban communities. By combining flexible, long-term financing with strategic planning and performance benchmarking, the program helps impoverished communities to address structural problems comprehensively, rather than applying “stovepipe” programs to isolated issues. Although the program is only 3 years into implementation, the results are already remarkable. Rising congressional interest in the program's success points to an expansion of the empowerment approach in coming years.

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Download the Round II Designation Notice

Download the Round II EZ/EC Regulations

Download the Notice Inviting Applications to Round II