Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, Governor JB Pritzker, and World Business Chicago joined Fifth Third Bank to announce its equity investment of approximately $20 million in Qualified Opportunity Zones in Chicago. The announcement of these new funds aligns with the City’s INVEST South/West initiative, dedicated to marshaling public and private resources to drive transformational growth in priority investment communities across Chicago. The new partnership will be announced at the Stony Island Arts Bank in the Grand Crossing community, a neighborhood adjacent to areas targeted for investment as part of INVEST South/West, which includes several opportunity zones. Overall, Chicago has 135 qualified Opportunity Zones located primarily on the city’s South and West sides, many of which overlap with the city’s INVEST South/West communities. All Fifth Third funding will be prioritized for key investment categories, including: affordable housing; workforce housing and other community priorities for multifamily development; and certain non-residential or mixed-use real estate serving a particular community need, as well as projects that contribute to local job and business growth.