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NMTC Funded 322 Projects, Nearly 60,000 Jobs Across the U.S. in 2023

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–News Direct–

The New Markets Tax Credit Coalition today released its 2024 New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Progress Report, the 20th edition of the reportproviding analysis of NMTC activities in 2023. The report was prepared by the NMTC Coalition, a national membership organization of Community Development Entities (CDEs) and investors organized to advocate for the NMTC. Every year since 2005, the NMTC Coalition surveys CDEs about their work, delivering billions of dollars to businesses, creating jobs, and rejuvenating the parts of the country that have been left behind. The annual NMTC Progress Report presents the findings of the CDE survey and provides policymakers and practitioners with the latest trends and successes of the NMTC.

This report shows the NMTC is an efficient and powerful tool that drives impactful investments to low-income communities, said Phil Glynn, NMTC Coalition Board Chair and President of Travois, a Certified B Corporation focused exclusively on promoting housing and economic development for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities. Two decades after its introduction, the NMTC remains one of the federal governments most effective tools for job creation and economic stabilization. These investments create high quality, accessible jobs in the communities that need them most.

Report highlights include:

JOBS AND INVESTMENT

  • 322 projects totaling $7.6 billion received $4.5 billion in NMTC allocation (at a ten-year cost to the federal government of $1.17 billion).
  • Projects generated 59,332 jobs in 2023, including 33,676 permanent full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs and 25,656 construction jobs. The federal cost per job averaged under $20,000.

AREAS TARGETED

  • Projects in 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
  • Severe Distress: 84.5 percent of NMTC financing went to severely distressed communities and 28.1 percent to non-metropolitan counties.
  • A record 19 projects totaling $313.9 million in allocation (7.1 percent of all allocation) were in Indian Country or in majority-Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Native Alaskan census tracts.

EQUITY PRICING

  • NMTC equity pricing increased over the course of 2023. The median price reported was $.78, ranging from $.68 to $.92.

COMPONENTS OF PROJECTS

  • Jump-starting American Manufacturing: NMTC financing supported 89 manufacturing and industrial businesses with direct loans and equity investments for working capital, new equipment, or new or renovated industrial space, including shared, light industrial space for multiple manufacturing businesses.
  • Real Estate: NMTC financing supported the construction or renovation of 13.5 million square feet of real estate and the construction or renovation of 1,132 homes and rental units targeted at low-to-moderate-income households.

STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY ASSETS

  • Expanding Access to Healthcare: The NMTC expanded healthcare access for residents of low-income communities through 89 projects. Those projects included 49 federally qualified health centers, safety-net hospitals, and free clinics.
  • Expanding Access to Services: Sixty-one percent of projects (195) included at least one community facility, affordable housing, a nonprofit, or social service component. Those new community resources add up to nearly 350 nonprofits, health centers, childcare centers, libraries, community centers, and other community facilities and social service providers. Forty-two projects expanded access to vocational training, college and university facilities, financial education, support for entrepreneurs, or other adult education or workforce development programs.
  • Project Selection Trends: In comparison to early in the program (2003-2010), in recent years (2018-2023), NMTC projects are much more likely to support healthcare, manufacturing, co-located social services, food banks, and services for people experiencing homelessness.

This year, 80 CDEs participated in the survey. Their answers were supplemented by data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Open Corporate, Loopnet, annual reports, and other online materials from NMTC-financed businesses and nonprofits.

Over the course of two decades, the data show the NMTC not only delivers an unprecedented level of capital to low-income rural and urban communities, but it also creates much-needed jobshelping individuals and families thrive and, in turn, grows those local economies where they live and work. In fact, since 2003, the NMTC has created more than one million jobs, said Coalition spokesperson Bob Rapoza.

The report showcases the importance of the NMTC in providing more than two decades worth of patient, flexible capital to businesses and projects located in distressed rural and urban communities, thereby creating jobs and growing business opportunities. The NMTC financing ranges from traditional industry and community sectors to new and cutting-edge technology. Projects and businesses that benefited from the Credit in the past year include manufacturing, healthcare, schools, and many others supporting childcare, youth, and families.

Rapoza notes, This report demonstrates that the NMTC has a 20-year track record of working, and Congress should, once and for all, expand and make the Credit permanent. It has the potential to positively impact communities across the country for decades to come.

About New Markets Tax Credit Program–The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) was enacted in 2000 to stimulate private investment and economic growth in low-income urban neighborhoods and rural communities that lack access to the patient capital needed to support and grow businesses, create jobs, and sustain healthy local economies. Since its inception, the NMTC has generated more than one million jobs. Today, due to the NMTC, over $135 billion is hard at work in underserved communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. For more information, visit www.NMTCCoalition.org.

Contact Details

Greg Wilson

+1 571-239-7474

gregwilsonpr@gmail.com

Company Website

https://nmtccoalition.org/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/nmtc-funded-322-projects-nearly-60-000-jobs-across-the-u-s-in-2023-640480853

New Markets Tax Credit Coalition

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Press Release

Trust Signal Expands to MENA to Strengthen Enterprise and Startup Communications

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Dubai, UAE, February 19th, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, The MENA region today represents one of the world’s most digitally dynamic regions. Several GCC markets report smartphone penetration rates above 90%, while governments are deploying multi-billion-dollar investments to accelerate national digital transformation programs, including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which prioritizes a diversified, technology-enabled economy, and the UAE’s Digital Economy Strategy, aimed at increasing the digital economy’s contribution to GDP. (Source)

As fintech, e-commerce, logistics, and super apps scale at record speed, communication has become a mission-critical infrastructure. Customer acquisition, authentication, payments, notifications, and support now rely on real-time, compliant, and highly secure messaging ecosystems. At the same time, regulatory frameworks across the region are tightening, and customer expectations around data privacy, responsiveness, and personalization are rising.

Enterprises are therefore rethinking communication not as a channel, but as a strategic growth lever.

Against this backdrop, TrustSignal has announced its expansion into the MENA region. The move reflects a growing demand for resilient, secure, and regulation-ready communication infrastructure that can support both high-growth startups and large enterprises operating across multiple jurisdictions.

With its AI-powered CPaaS ecosystem, TrustSignal aims to enable businesses to manage omnichannel communication with greater reliability, scalability, and compliance. Designed to address the region’s evolving regulatory landscape and diverse consumer behaviors, the platform brings together automation, delivery optimization, and enterprise-grade security to power meaningful customer engagement at scale.

In a region where digital trust directly influences brand growth, communication infrastructure is no longer optional; it is foundational. TrustSignal’s MENA expansion signals a deeper commitment to supporting businesses as they navigate this next phase of digital maturity.

Why MENA, Why Now

The Communication Platform as a Service market in the Middle East and Africa is projected to reach approximately US$10.1 billion by 2030 (Source). This trajectory signals more than sector expansion. It reflects a structural redesign of how enterprises approach customer engagement.

The growth is demand-led.

Across MENA, this momentum is reinforced by API first cloud adoption, mobile commerce growth, heightened security requirements, and cross-border digital expansion.

Channel dynamics are shifting in parallel. A2P SMS remains central for authentication and alerts, while WhatsApp Business APIs and conversational messaging are accelerating across retail and financial services. Enterprises are moving from broadcast notifications to interactive, two-way journeys, with voice APIs gaining ground in security and service coordination.

Communication is not only increasing in volume, but advancing in complexity.

What This Means for Businesses in MENA

The acceleration of CPaaS adoption in MENA marks a structural shift in how enterprises design customer engagement. As messaging evolves from one-way notifications to real-time interactive journeys, communication now sits at the core of revenue flow, fraud prevention, customer trust, and compliance.

Enterprises are navigating rising authentication volumes, expanding conversational traffic, cross-border delivery complexity, and tighter regulatory expectations, demanding infrastructure that is intelligent, resilient, and measurable.

TrustSignal’s expansion aligns with this inflection point, enabling businesses to move beyond scale toward real-time optimization, lower latency, stronger verification stability, and more reliable customer journeys. In a market where a delayed OTP can disrupt transactions and erode trust, communication performance directly shapes business performance.

MENA’s next phase of digital growth will be defined not by message volume, but by delivery intelligence.

Reframing Communication as a Performance Engine

TrustSignal approaches the regional opportunity with a clear thesis: communication infrastructure must evolve from a cost center to a measurable growth engine.

Its AI-enabled CPaaS platform is anchored on three structural capabilities.

  • Intelligent Routing and Optimization
    Adaptive algorithms analyze delivery behavior in real time, dynamically selecting optimal routes to improve authentication reliability and reduce latency during demand spikes.
  • Performance Visibility and Analytics
    Granular reporting frameworks provide enterprises with actionable insights into delivery outcomes, engagement metrics, and channel efficiency, enabling continuous refinement of communication workflows.
  • Security and Compliance Architecture
    Embedded encryption layers and compliance-aligned frameworks are designed to support evolving regulatory standards across MENA jurisdictions.

Rather than positioning itself as a transactional messaging vendor, TrustSignal operates as an infrastructure partner focused on engineering predictability, resilience, and measurable impact into enterprise communication systems.

A Forward Looking Vision

As MENA’s digital economy matures, the defining differentiator will be operational precision.

TrustSignal’s regional roadmap centers on advancing AI-driven communication intelligence, deepening vertical integrations across fintech, retail, healthcare, and mobility, strengthening predictive performance modeling to anticipate demand surges, and expanding localized enterprise advisory capabilities.

The long term objective is to help enterprises transition from reactive messaging systems to predictive communication ecosystems where infrastructure continuously adapts to optimize engagement, security, and efficiency.

Against this backdrop, the Middle East and North Africa represent a strategic growth frontier for the company. Articulating this vision, Mr Imran Shaikh, Founder and CEO of TrustSignal, stated:

“MENA stands among the world’s most dynamic digital markets. Our expansion underscores a long term commitment to equipping enterprises with a compliant, scalable communication infrastructure that advances regional digital ambitions.”

TrustSignal’s expansion reflects alignment with that future, one where communication is architected for resilience, transparency, and measurable business impact.

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Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.

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Press Release

AI Meets Arabic Literature: Qirtas App Unveils Scalable Publishing Infrastructure at Web Summit Qatar 2026

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Doha, Qatar, 19th February 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Qirtas App, a dual-interface digital platform headquartered in Istanbul and Malmo, announced its mission to bridge the global gap in Arabic literature accessibility following its successful showcase in the Alpha Startup category at Web Summit Qatar. By integrating cutting-edge AI production tools with a seamless streaming interface, Qirtas is providing the technical infrastructure needed to digitize the fragmented $4 billion Arab publishing market.

Despite a global population of 430 million Arabic speakers, the publishing industry has long been hampered by prohibitive shipping costs, high piracy rates, and a lack of digital infrastructure. Qirtas App addresses these systemic barriers through a twofold solution: a freemium streaming platform for readers and a sophisticated digital management backend for publishers.

Empowering Publishers through the “AI Production Suite”

Qirtas is not merely a distributor; it is a catalyst for digital transformation. For traditional publishers, the platform offers a dedicated portal to convert physical catalogs into secure, monetizable digital assets.

AI-Automated Production: The platform utilizes proprietary AI to automatically generate high-quality audiobooks and smart summaries, drastically reducing the time and cost barriers that previously prevented publishers from entering the digital space.

Institutional Security: With advanced Digital Rights Management (DRM) and real-time reader analytics, publishers maintain full control over their intellectual property while gaining unprecedented insights into global consumption patterns.

The Future of the Arab Reading Experience

For the global Arab diaspora, Qirtas offers a comprehensive streaming library featuring Qirtas AI, an interactive reading assistant that provides instant translation, text-to-speech narration, and social integration.

“The Arab publishing world is rich in content but starved of modern distribution,” said Tamer Odeh, CEO of Qirtas App. “With Qirtas, we are removing the friction. We aren’t just giving readers an app; we are giving publishers the tools to survive and thrive in a digital-first economy.”

Alaa Barghouth, COO of Qirtas App, added: “Our participation in Web Summit Qatar has confirmed the massive appetite for this technology. We have already secured commitments from major publishing houses ready to onboard their catalogs. We are now focused on scaling our infrastructure to meet this demand.”

Market Opportunity & Investment

The digital publishing segment in the MENA region is currently valued at $400 million and is experiencing rapid year-over-year growth. Having validated its model with early industry commitments, Qirtas App is currently open for pre-seed investment to accelerate its market launch and expand its AI-driven production capabilities.

For more information or to inquire about partnership opportunities, visit qirtasapp.com.

About Qirtas App

Qirtas is a Swedish-Turkish “Deep-Tech” publishing platform dedicated to revitalizing Arabic literature. By combining AI-powered content production with a global streaming model, Qirtas connects 430 million Arabic speakers with the books they love, while providing publishers with the tools to digitize and protect their heritage.

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Press Release

BTCD Foundation Launches Layer 1 Blockchain Infrastructure and Opens Public Testnet

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The BTCD Foundation has announced the upcoming deployment of its proprietary Layer 1 blockchain infrastructure. This development marks the introduction of a new technical framework designed to support decentralized applications and secure digital transactions. The Foundation has confirmed that the Public Testnet is scheduled to open for user participation on February 15, 2026.

Technical Architecture and Infrastructure

The BTCD platform is engineered as an independent Layer 1 blockchain, distinct from token-based projects that rely on existing third-party networks. The core infrastructure utilizes a hybrid consensus mechanism combining Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) and Proof of Stake (PoS) protocols.

This architectural design is intended to address common scalability challenges in blockchain technology. The technical specifications indicate a capacity for high-volume throughput, with initial testing targeting transaction speeds of over 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) while maintaining sub-second finality. The system is built to operate autonomously, providing a decentralized foundation for developers and users.

Testnet Deployment and Minting Mechanism

Beginning February 15, 2026, the BTCD Foundation will initiate the Public Testnet phase. This phase allows users to interact with the network’s minting protocol to test system stability and performance.

The minting process follows a programmed algorithmic schedule designed to test the network’s long-term sustainability over a projected 25-year timeline. The protocol includes technical halving events scheduled every 2.5 years to regulate the issuance rate of digital assets on the network.

Transition to Mainnet

The Testnet phase is a precursor to the official Mainnet launch, which is currently scheduled for May 15, 2026. The Foundation has outlined a technical migration plan wherein digital assets minted during the Testnet phase will be recognized on the Mainnet system upon its activation.

Ecosystem Development Roadmap

Following the Mainnet launch, the BTCD Foundation plans to deploy a suite of decentralized applications (dApps) integrated directly into the Layer 1 core. The technical roadmap outlines the phased release of nine specific utilities, including:

  • Nexora: A decentralized communication protocol.
  • Guardian DEX: A decentralized exchange interface.
  • WealthBook: A social networking platform integrated with blockchain identity verification.

    Future updates scheduled for later in 2026 involve the integration of automated trading algorithms and asset management utilities.

About BTCD Foundation

The BTCD Foundation is a technology organization focused on the development of Layer 1 blockchain solutions. It aims to build a scalable, secure, and decentralized infrastructure to support the next generation of digital applications.

Testnet Access: http://btcd.foundation

Community Hub: https://t.me/btcdfoundation1

Media Contact

Organization: BTCD FOUNDATION

Contact Person: Mr. Alex – CEO

Website: https://btcd.foundation

Email: Send Email

Country:Panama

Release id:41440

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