The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded the City of Las Vegas $45 million in federally-funded New Market Tax Credits to invest in low-income and underserved communities in Southern Nevada.

The tax credits program is meant to encourage investment in historically underserved communities by providing investors with the tax credits when they make investments in qualified low-income community businesses in qualified census tracts.

The Las Vegas Community Investment Corporation (LVCIC), created to facilitate investment in commercial real estate projects, will be granted use of the New Market Tax Credits to finance borrowers who start businesses in the City of Las Vegas’ impoverished neighborhoods.

LVCIC stated they would focus financing in the communities that were hurt most by the economic downturn during the recession, which includes the downtown area as well as other eligible census tracts extending north from downtown.

“These tax credits are critically important as we continue to invest in our underserved areas,” Mayor Carolyn Goodman said. “The new businesses that will be helped by these funds will create quality jobs and investment opportunities in our community.”

In 2016, the LVCIC received $55 million, a portion of which went towards the construction of a new library in East Las Vegas.

“These funds will help further our Ward 5 Works initiative, which looks to create new jobs and opportunities for residents in Ward 5,” said Councilman Cedric Crear. “These funds will incentivize developers to invest in downtown, not only creating more jobs by offering quality goods and services.”