National Economic Opportunity Fund

The National Economic Opportunity Fund selects Memphis to serve as its national headquarters for its first regional NMTC finance intermediary, the Memphis Economic Opportunity Fund

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (November 1, 2003) - The National Economic Opportunity Fund ("NEOF") announced today that it has selected Memphis, Tennessee as the first of five regional markets to receive specialized technical assistance services to help integrate community development finance objectives on a consistent basis. NEOF will base its operations in Soulsville USA, an area of south Memphis located within the Memphis Renewal Community boundaries. The Memphis Economic Opportunity Fund ("MEOF"), an affiliated regional intermediary, will be spearheaded in Memphis by the LeMoyne Owen College Community Development Corporation ("LOCCDC"). They are a member of the National Congress for Community Economic Development ("NCCED"), a national trade association for community based development organizations, CDCs and an original sponsor of NEOF. NEOF will attempt to accelerate community development finance processes and knowledge transfers at a local, regional and national level simultaneously. NEOF's strategy will be to create a communication structure that fosters consistency in the interactions between community, business, philanthropic, educational and government institutions. NEOF has featured Memphis in its 2003 New Markets Tax Credit ("NMTC") Application that draws its support from national institutions such as Fannie Mae, along with commitments from the Memphis banking and business community. According to Roy Priest, President/CEO, of NCCED, "…. the NMTC Program offers CDCs an excellent planning tool to accelerate comprehensive community development projects. NCCED believes that NEOF's work in Memphis will help accelerate CDCs economic development goals and produce a replicable model that members like LeMoyne-Owen CDC will be able to use to build wealth opportunities in their communities."

NEOF selected Memphis in part because of LOCCDC's balanced approach to community development in Soulsville USA. Recent major neighborhood accomplishments include the rededication of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the adjoining Stax Music Academy. LOCCDC intends to use the momentum generated by community investments to support the development of commercial office, retail and community service businesses. NEOF's local support of MEOF will create sufficient critical mass to document and replicate tax credit and finance strategies for ongoing community priorities. MEOF will also gain substantial immediate knowledge and assistance from NEOF's Covenant NMTC Residential Fund in Houston, Texas.

Jeffrey Higgs, Executive Director of LOCCDC said, " The job of community development requires harnessing the maximum participation of all of societies' institutions on a consistent basis. We hope our efforts with NEOF, and our support for MEOF in Memphis, will help provide a learning platform to incorporate Renewal Community opportunities into smart growth strategies, both regionally and nationally".

James Mingey, Managing Director of NEOF, stated that " from the perspective of the 'necessary collaboration of government, educational, community, business and philanthropic institutions' it's happening in Memphis!"

Based on the Memphis model, NEOF expects to implement four additional regional knowledge intermediaries in 2004. NEOF, through its Managing Member, NEOF, Inc., has been responsible for the development of fourteen public-private intermediaries since its inception and has raised over $220 million in private equity capital for these purposes.