Advisory Board: Governing Board of the Green Empowerment Zone
Subject: Support Letter for Opportunity Zones 2.0
Presenter: County Staff
Contact: Alyson Greenlee Escarzaga, 925-655-2783
Information:
Support Letter and List of Census Tracts are attached.
Referral History and Update:
At its last meeting on May 15, 2026, the Governing Board of the Green Empowerment Zone received a verbal update from Brian Coleman, Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) on the State of California’s process for receiving recommendations for Opportunity Zones 2.0.
The GEZ Board directed staff to bring an item on the next agenda supporting the nominations of Opportunity Zones coming from the Green Empowerment Zone.
Staff reached out to the 9 GEZ cities that-in addition to Contra Costa County-contain eligible census tracts for Opportunity Zone 2.0 nomination (See the map of eligible census tracts: <https://www.policymap.com/embed/widget/12163/DNAOEK4MOFUIAGJCCEX7MVRX9IRWBIKG>). Of those, 7 cities responded with census tracts that they are nominating for Opportunity Zones, in addition to Contra Costa County.
The attachment contains the list of census tracts from the Green Empowerment Zone that staff are aware of that are being nominated for Opportunity Zones 2.0.
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
APPROVE a Letter of Support for the Nominations of Opportunity Zones in the Green Empowerment Zone.