On Sept. 16, 2011, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined NDC and the leadership of the Seattle Children’s Research Institute for a tour of the Institute, and to call for the Congressional jobs strategy to include an extension of the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) program.
With the help of NDC, Seattle Children’s Research Institute was able to secure $30 million in NMTCs to expand its facility and its groundbreaking research into cures for childhood diseases. The new facility has enabled the Institute to attract top researchers and add 150 new employees including 50 hired in 2011. .
With the NMTC program set to expire in December 2011, Sen. Cantwell called on Congressional leaders to extend the New Markets Tax Credit as part of a national jobs strategy.
“Our top priority for a national jobs agenda should be continuing to invest in the proven programs that put people back to work,” said Cantwell. “The New Markets Tax Credit is attracting the kind of middle-class jobs that will get Washington moving again. This is my second visit in less than a month to a site that is using the New Markets Tax Credit to provide quality jobs for Washingtonians. That is why I’m calling on Congress to include it in a national jobs strategy.” U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell
NDC’s Michelle Morlan highlighted the program’s significant impact on economic development in Washington and around the nation. Since the program’s inception in 2001, NDC’s HEDC New Markets, Inc. has been awarded $549 million in NMTC allocations from the U.S. Department of Treasury, which it has used nationally to spur investment and job creation in low income communities. Says Morlan, “we hope for the program’s renewal because clearly it works.”
Using federal Recovery Act standards, the NMTC Coalition estimates that NMTC-financed projects have created or retained up to 500,000 jobs throughout the U.S. since 2001, with steady progress even during the recession of 2008-2010 and currently through this continuing period of high-unemployment.