I do a lot of work with both OZs and NMTCs. NMTCs will provide low-interest loans with a potentially 'forgivable' piece after seven years, so you can create an OZ that invests in a qualified opportunity zone business and that business can borrow money from a new markets tax credit lender (i.e., a community development entity that has received an allocation of NMTC from the CDFI Fund of the US Treasury Department.) This has been done many times already and can be quite effective at generating capital for valuable community development projects. Unlike OZs, NMTCs are not as of right, so one must find entities with allocations of NMTCs and convince them of the value of the proposed project/business.
