Novogradac Offers New Tool to Determine NMTC Eligibility

Custom Mapping Widget is Powered by PolicyMap

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Apr 14, 2011, 03:29 ET

PHILADELPHIA, April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Novogradac & Company LLP recently unveiled a new online mapping tool which displays eligible areas for New Markets Tax Credit, a federal program incentivizing investment in distressed communities. The widget, created by PolicyMap, helps investors, developers and entrepreneurs determine qualified NMTC locations.

Novogradac, a national certified public accounting and consulting firm, offers the customized NMTC widget at http://www.novoco.com/new_markets/resources/maps_data.php. Users can view NMTC eligibility based on primary criteria like poverty rates, family income and unemployment, or secondary eligibility criteria, such as a site's inclusion of a Brownfield or location in a Medically Underserved Area. Novogradac's widget also includes data about specific NMTC investments previously made around the country.

PolicyMap, an online data analysis and interactive map tool, allows users to generate maps, tables and reports based on over 10,000 data indicators. Using Geographic Information Systems technology, PolicyMap displays key social and economic statistics for U.S. communities down to a neighborhood level. PolicyMap also offers custom widgets – embeddable versions of the site – to organizations like Novogradac interested in tracking a particular issue.

Novogradac's widget complements the company's services, with a major emphasis in the real estate sector. Many of Novogradac's clients operate in the community development field and rely on NMTCs to invest in low-income communities. "Our widget from PolicyMap makes it simple to access NMTC eligibility information – primary and secondary – in a single place," explained Brad Elphick, Partner at Novogradac. "Looking at a location's eligibility status helps guide our clients in choosing where to invest."

PolicyMap has also provided customized widgets for the Realtors Property Resource (RPR), a subsidiary of the National Association of REALTORS®, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. PolicyMap's RPR widget provides up-to-date information on the neighborhoods where realtors work, including FEMA flood zone data (http://www.policymap.com/flood-widget.html). The Federal Reserve Bank's widget (http://www.philadelphiafed.org/community-development/map-your-community/) enables users to "map their community" in terms of economic and demographic information.

Using data already on hand, PolicyMap can build these custom widgets quickly and cost effectively. Visit www.PolicyMap.com for more information.

About TRF and PolicyMap

PolicyMap (www.policymap.com) is a service of The Reinvestment Fund, a nonprofit leader in financing neighborhood revitalization. As a fully web-based interactive map tool, PolicyMap empowers decision makers with better access to credible market and demographic data in an easy-to-use geographic information system. www.policymap.com

SOURCE PolicyMap