On Wednesday, the Indiana Office For Community and Rural Affairs announced six sites for a rural opportunity zone initiative.
DeKalb County was one of those six areas.
Anton King is the executive director of DeKalb County’s Economic Development Partnership. He said this initiative will help them market their existing opportunity zones.
The zones allow investors to defer their capital gains taxes for up to 10 years as a way to encourage development.
"I think it gives us a good start in these first couple years, so those investors can really see the benefit of the incentive," King said.
Other rural opportunity zones within northern Indiana are already garnering interest, according to Mike Galbraith, with the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership.
And the selection for this state program targeting specific resources is meaningful.
"They really went through with a fine comb to see which ones they could make a difference in," Galbraith said. "That's a really big honor for Anton and DeKalb."
Resources offered through this initiative include broadband mapping, evaluating transportation infrastructure and connectivity as well as establishing a task force.
Other counties selected for the program are Crawford, Daviess, Knox, Newton and Switzerland.
