UConn supports Mansfield’s opportunity zones

UConn played a major role in the loca­tions of each zone because it can attract more eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment since the uni­ver­si­ty is the only large insti­tu­tion in Mansfield.

Mans­field Town Man­ag­er Der­rik Kennedy said that the town worked with anoth­er agency as well as UConn to help make these zones for the town. 

“”We engage with the Con­necti­cut Eco­nom­ic Resource Cen­ter to help the town and be the Uni­ver­si­ty of Connecticut’s col­lab­o­ra­tor in work­ing to pro­mote and make the most out of the oppor­tu­ni­ty zone des­ig­na­tion Mans­field pro­vid­ed us,” Kennedy said.

The Con­necti­cut Eco­nom­ic Resource Cen­ter, or CERC, is an agency in Con­necti­cut which pro­vides research-based data and plan­ning strate­gies to to help busi­ness cre­ation, recruit­ment and growth.

Mansfield’s May­or Paul Shapiro said that these areas will allow for more hous­ing with­in the zones so that it may solve the long-term prob­lem of UConn stu­dents liv­ing in res­i­den­tial neighborhoods.

““The zones will allow more apart­ments to be made due to an increase of devel­op­ers in the area,” Shapiro, a Demo­c­rat, said. 

Hen­dric­son said that Mansfield’s pur­pose in these zones is to look out for any­thing nec­es­sary to make the zones thrive.

“Essen­tial­ly, the role the town would take up would be to ulti­mate­ly be a match­mak­er to iden­ti­fy where there are needs, and funds where there is mon­ey involved,” Hen­dric­son said.

Next sto­ry: “More ben­e­fits”