Building Capacity for Our Communities to Deploy Citizen Wealth Building Projects
As municipalities, counties, and states seek sustainable ways to fund community development, they currently rely primarily on two sources: taxes and municipal bonds. Historically, federal assistance has also played a significant role. However, with decreasing federal support and an environment of perpetual uncertainty around such aid, local governments face mounting challenges in planning and executing vital projects.
Beyond the traditional constraints—such as limited taxing authority and the high costs associated with municipal bonds—several systemic issues further restrict community development:
Property Taxes: Raising property taxes remains difficult, especially as they tend to disproportionately affect financially stressed families.
Diminishing Federal Funds: Programs like COVID relief funds have largely been exhausted, and shifts in funding for education and student loan deferment reduce available capital, impacting local economies and decreasing sales tax revenues.
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Changes: The sunset of technology-neutral production and investment tax credits makes it tougher for communities to implement distributed energy solutions, which could lower costs for consumers and strengthen local energy resilience.
Supply Chain Disruptions: New tariff policies threaten to increase costs for essential goods needed to enhance infrastructure, energy, housing, and water systems.
Demand and Affordability Issues: High interest rates and rising housing costs hinder families’ ability to buy homes, which historically served as a key to wealth building.
In this challenging landscape, the Invested Public Network™ offers a transformative approach. Through our Upscale™ Agenda, we aim to empower cities, counties, and states with the capacity to deploy highly contextualized, citizen-focused projects. This strategy is designed to generate wealth-building opportunities for residents and circulate capital more effectively within communities, resulting in substantial economic and social benefits in the short, mid, and long term.
We believe that building this capacity will create resilient, prosperous communities where citizens can thrive, and local economies can flourish.
Please contact us to discuss the possibilities.
Brett Sechrest, Co-Founder and CEO