Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CPRD) is expanding its building for the first time in nearly 50 years. The arts institution has long uplifted Denver’s African American community and the Five Points neighborhood. Malik Robinson, CPRD’s President and CEO, is leading the expansion project, but it wouldn’t have been possible without a financing tool called New Markets Tax Credits.  

These credits, established by Congress in 2000, encourage private investors to put cash into specific communities – ones that are considered economically distressed. In Grand Junction, New Markets Tax Credits helped the Food Bank of the Rockies to build a much-needed new facility in 2022. One in eight Coloradans face food insecurity, and Western Slope director Sue Ellen Rodwick says the new facility helps the organization to respond to the current need. Without New Markets Tax Credits, this growth might not have been possible. More broadly, these investments spur economic development in Colorado by creating jobs, improving local infrastructure, and increasing support for local businesses.

Resources from this episode:

• Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Capital Campaign
• Arts and Culture National Economic Impact
• Arts and Culture Economic Impact on Metro Denver
• Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000
• CHFA – New Markets Tax Credits
• Food Bank of the Rockies
• Hunger Facts – Hunger Free Colorado
• Food Bank of the Rockies Metro Denver Distribution Center Capital Campaign

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