CHICAGO—Last November, the US Treasury Dept. allocated $7 billion in New Markets Tax Credits, by far the largest amount ever given out since the program, which promotes business and real estate investment in low-income and distressed communities, began in 2000. But experts say many businesses that would benefit from participating in the program never even look into it, partly because they can't see themselves investing in a distressed community.

“You would be surprised at what kind of projects qualify,” Darryl Jacobs of Ginsberg Jacobs LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. He is one of the country's leading NMTC experts, with a portfolio of projects spanning multiple markets and sectors, and says many areas considered the hottest markets in Chicago meet the program's requirements. “Virtually every industrial area in Chicago qualifies, and it's a pity some people don't know it's available to them.”

The program provides a tax credit that equals 39%, paid out over seven years, of the amount invested in a certified Community Development Entity, which in turn creates a project in what the government considers a low-income community. But that means a census tract that either has a poverty rate of at least 20%, or, if it's an urban tract, the median family income does not exceed 80% of the greater of statewide MFI or the metropolitan area MFI.