spend a certain amount of money on capital improvements will get a 10-year relief from their corporate taxes,” says Joseph Ritchie, CEO of the Brick City Development Corp. (BCDC), who plans to tout New Jersey’s program at the summit. “It is an extremely powerful tool. We’ve done some analysis to show that the program has the ability to reduce a corporation’s net effective rent significantly.”

With the support of Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the BCDC has introduced many programs to incorporate the city’s small businesses as they give Newark a facelift.

“We realize that we couldn’t just have a city that has new capital that would squeeze out the indigenous residents [and businesses],” Booker says. “We wanted to find a way for local minorities and women to get involved.”