Empowerment-zone status ahs brought a number of public and private financial benefits. These include a $100 million federal block grant for improvements to the physical and social infrastructure, tax incentive s to employer who recruit abour from wihtin the zone, and apledge of $1.9 billion of private funding. of the latter,$1 billion comprises a loan fund administered by thirteen local financial institutions, to make loan available to small businesses and homebuyers who might otherwise experience difficulty in securing credit