HOPE -- Mayor Timothy McDonough was among the local leaders who were part of President Donald Trump's Opportunity Zone Conference last week.

HOPE -- Mayor Timothy McDonough was among the local leaders -- the only one from Sussex and Warren counties and one of two from New Jersey -- who were part of President Donald Trump's Opportunity Zone Conference last week.

According to a White House spokesperson, Opportunity Zones are a part of "President Trump's efforts to bring economic opportunity to communities that have been left behind."

Opportunity Zones, which incentivize investors and developers to build up struggling communities, are a facet of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump signed in 2017, with more than 8,700 communities in all 50 states and five U.S. territories designated as Opportunity Zones.

In 2018, Trump signed an executive order creating the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, headed by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, which also involves 16 federal agencies.

McDonough was part of the conference among nearly 100 state, tribal, local and community leaders, and later was part of a smaller breakout session with some of the participants. McDonough said he hopes to be a voice for smaller communities.

As part of his involvement in the conference, in January McDonough had the opportunity to meet Carson and reconnect with Trump, whom he said he has known for 25 years.

McDonough said his invitation to be a part of the event on Wednesday was likely sparked by his visit to the White House on Jan. 25, when Trump invited a bipartisan group of 10 mayors to meet with him and Carson.

The spokesman said Tuesday the mayors focused during the roundtable session with Trump and Carson on Opportunity Zones, infrastructure, workforce development, trade and advancing the USMCA agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Other participating mayors included Steve Benjamin of Columbia, S.C.; Carlos Hernandez of Hialeah, Fla.; Kyle Moore of Quincy, Ill.; and Acquanetta Warren of Fontana, Calif.

The mayors' visit to the White House coincided with the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, the spokesman said.

McDonough enjoyed meeting Carson on Jan. 25 and Wednesday and described him as "very sincere." He invited both Trump and Carson to visit Hope, which neither have yet.

However Trump, with whom McDonough said he became acquainted when the New Jersey Conference of Mayors would meet annually at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, helped in Hope about two decades ago with an undisclosed donation he gave to help refurbish one of Hope's ballfields.

McDonough described both Trump and Carson as "very devoted to making sure cities in the United States are taken care of."

"It was an honor and great opportunity to be a part of the meeting on Jan. 25 and the Opportunity Zone Conference on Wednesday," McDonough said.

The visit to the White House was McDonough's third, he said, including having been invited to the White House Christmas party in December. McDonough said he has also met past U.S. presidents in his capacity as mayor at events including Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

McDonough, who has served the Hope Township Committee for three decades and as mayor for 29 years, said he has suggested to Trump and Carson that smaller suburban cities and rural communities should also be a part of redevelopment, with much of the focus in New Jersey currently on rebuilding larger cities such as Newark and Camden.

McDonough called the smaller communities the "backbone of New Jersey," and said that a focus for the suburbs and rural areas could be earmarked for agritourism and specific sections of municipalities like Hope.

One community that came to mind for McDonough in Hope was Silver Lake, a community originally developed with summer homes, but now converted into year-round residences.

Silver Lake properties have well water and many with old septic systems. According to McDonough, the median income in Hope is below the state average, which makes it difficult to regenerate municipalities like Hope.

On Jan. 25, in addition to attending a press conference at the White House Rose Garden before attending the mayors' meeting, McDonough said he enjoyed speaking with the other mayors, who were able to converse about best practices within their local governments and share ideas with one another.

According to statistics on a fact sheet about Opportunity Zones the White House released on Wednesday, the median family income in Opportunity Zones is 37 percent below the median in their respective states and the average poverty rate in these communities exceeds 32 percent.

Close to 35 million residents in total live in these communities.

The White House stated investors in Opportunity Zones will benefit from capital gains tax relief, and projects that Opportunity Zones will grow $100 billion in private investment, create jobs and promote economic growth.

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Jennifer Jean Miller can also be reached by phone at: 973-383-1230; and on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/JMillerNJH.