The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program serves as a powerful catalyst for directing private investment into low-income communities throughout Missouri. From revitalizing urban neighborhoods in St. Louis and Kansas City to supporting manufacturing operations in rural counties and expanding healthcare infrastructure across the state, NMTC financing addresses critical capital gaps that conventional lending cannot adequately fill. CBO Financial partners with developers, manufacturers, healthcare providers, and community-based organizations to structure comprehensive CDFI-backed financing solutions that foster sustainable economic development, create quality employment opportunities, and strengthen communities across the Show-Me State.
How the NMTC Program Works in Missouri
The NMTC Program incentivizes qualified equity investments by providing a 39% federal tax credit to investors who commit capital to designated low-income communities through certified Community Development Entities (CDEs). In Missouri, this financing mechanism has proven particularly effective across sectors where traditional lending markets systematically underserve development needs—including advanced manufacturing, healthcare delivery, food processing, logistics and distribution, mixed-use commercial development, and educational infrastructure.
Missouri’s economic landscape encompasses both major metropolitan areas experiencing concentrated urban poverty and rural communities facing population decline and limited access to capital. The state hosts multiple active CDEs with deep expertise in Missouri’s unique development challenges and regional opportunities. From logistics facilities in Kansas City to bioscience startups in the Cortex Innovation District and food manufacturing in the Bootheel region, the new markets tax credit program offers flexible capital structures that integrate effectively with state incentives and local economic development programs to enhance project feasibility.
Eligible Projects and Borrowers
NMTC financing in Missouri supports a diverse array of community development initiatives aligned with the state’s economic strengths. Eligible projects typically include:
Manufacturing & Industrial Operations: Food processing facilities, automotive suppliers, pharmaceutical manufacturing, aerospace components production, distribution centers, and advanced manufacturing plants that create jobs while strengthening Missouri’s industrial base in qualifying communities.
Healthcare Infrastructure: Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), specialty medical facilities, dental clinics, behavioral health centers, rural critical access hospitals, and medical office buildings expanding healthcare access in underserved areas across urban and rural Missouri.
Logistics & Distribution Facilities: Warehouses, distribution centers, cold storage facilities, and intermodal terminals leveraging Missouri’s central geographic location and transportation infrastructure to create employment in low-income areas.
Commercial & Mixed-Use Development: Grocery stores addressing food deserts, downtown mixed-use projects, office buildings, hotels, and retail centers that anchor neighborhood economies in qualifying census tracts throughout Missouri cities.
Bioscience & Technology Facilities: Research laboratories, innovation centers, incubators, and bioscience office space supporting Missouri’s growing life sciences cluster while providing quality employment opportunities.
Educational & Workforce Facilities: Charter schools, early childhood education centers, vocational training facilities, STEM learning environments, and community college expansions serving disadvantaged student populations.
Community & Cultural Facilities: Arts venues, community centers, recreation facilities, libraries, and nonprofit service centers that enhance community vitality and provide essential programming in underserved neighborhoods.
Eligible borrowers include for-profit developers, nonprofit organizations, community development corporations, healthcare systems, and public-private partnerships committed to projects that meet CDFI program criteria. CBO Financial’s NMTC consultants help applicants navigate eligibility requirements, census tract qualification analysis, and financing structure optimization to position projects competitively for CDE allocation.
Benefits of the NMTC Program for Missouri
The NMTC Program delivers measurable economic and community benefits throughout Missouri:
Job Creation & Workforce Development: NMTC projects generate construction employment and permanent jobs in areas experiencing elevated unemployment or underemployment. Many Missouri projects incorporate workforce training partnerships with community colleges and technical schools, creating career pathways particularly for residents in distressed urban and rural communities.
Private Capital Leverage: The tax credit incentive attracts institutional investors and private capital into Missouri communities that traditional markets have overlooked, effectively multiplying the impact of public resources and philanthropic investments to catalyze transformative development.
Urban Neighborhood Revitalization: NMTC-financed anchor projects in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia catalyze broader neighborhood investment, attract subsequent private development, and reverse cycles of disinvestment in historically disadvantaged areas.
Rural Economic Vitality: In rural Missouri counties facing population decline and economic contraction, NMTC financing has proven essential for manufacturing facilities, food processing operations, healthcare centers, and main street revitalization projects that conventional lenders view as too risky despite strong community need.
Gap Financing Solution: For projects where development costs, market conditions, or risk profiles create financing gaps—whether due to environmental remediation needs, historic building rehabilitation costs, or lower revenue potential—NMTC provides essential capital that enables project completion and long-term sustainability.
Community Wealth Building: By channeling patient capital into locally-serving businesses, cooperatives, healthcare facilities, and community institutions, NMTC helps build community-controlled assets and economic resilience rather than extracting wealth from vulnerable populations.
Missouri projects have successfully deployed NMTC financing to restore historic urban buildings, expand healthcare networks in medically underserved areas, support food manufacturing operations, develop innovation districts, and create community-serving facilities across both metropolitan and rural geographies. CBO Financial invites project sponsors to schedule a complimentary project analysis to explore how NMTC can enhance financial feasibility while maximizing community benefit and economic impact.
Regulatory & State Development Framework
Missouri maintains robust state-level support for community economic development that complements federal NMTC financing. The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) serves as the state’s primary economic development agency, administering various incentive programs that layer effectively with NMTC, including Missouri Works tax credits, BUILD (Business Use Incentives for Large-Scale Development) grants, enhanced enterprise zones, and community development block grants. DED’s Community Development division focuses explicitly on strategies supporting underserved communities where NMTC projects typically locate.
Additionally, Missouri’s six regional planning commissions provide technical assistance and coordination for community development initiatives. At the same time, entities such as the St. Louis Development Corporation and the Kansas City Economic Development Corporation offer local-level support and additional financing tools for projects in Missouri’s major metropolitan areas.
Missouri benefits from several regionally focused CDEs maintaining active NMTC allocations, with intimate knowledge of the state’s economic geography and development landscape. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund administers the national NMTC Program, publishing allocation awards, compliance guidance, and technical resources essential for successful project implementation and ongoing management.
CBO Financial maintains comprehensive expertise in both federal NMTC regulations and Missouri-specific development incentives and financing mechanisms. Our team coordinates across multiple capital sources—including state tax credits, historic preservation incentives, opportunity zone benefits, brownfield redevelopment programs, and local revolving loan funds—to construct integrated financing solutions that serve both project economics and community development objectives while ensuring full regulatory compliance.
Get Started
If you’re developing a project in a qualifying Missouri community, NMTC financing may provide the catalytic capital necessary to advance from planning to implementation. CBO Financial delivers end-to-end support throughout the NMTC process—from initial eligibility assessment and census tract qualification to CDE partner identification, transaction structuring, investor coordination, and ongoing compliance management.
Our experience across Missouri’s diverse urban and rural geographies and varied project types provides valuable insight into competitive positioning and what makes applications successful with CDE allocatees operating in the state. Whether you’re expanding a manufacturing operation in a rural county, developing a community health center in an urban neighborhood, creating bioscience office space in an innovation district, or establishing logistics infrastructure in a distressed area, our team can evaluate NMTC alignment with your overall capital strategy.
Contact CBO Financial today to discuss your Missouri project and explore NMTC financing options. We’ll assess eligibility requirements, identify appropriate CDE partners with experience in Missouri allocations, and outline a financing pathway that maximizes community impact while achieving your development objectives and creating lasting economic opportunity.