Arctaris Impact Investors, a Boston-based investment firm, has launched the Arctaris Southwestern Pennsylvania Opportunity Zone Program. The program will invest $20 million into Opportunity Zones in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania, an area that includes Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs.

The program will cast a wide net, investing in real estate and operating businesses as well as infrastructure, broadband, and renewable energy. Arctaris is partnering with the Richard King Mellon Foundation on the venture.

“Pittsburgh has had an amazing economic growth story over the past few decades- unfortunately it’s not uniform across the region,” said Lee Kimball, the new Pittsburgh Investment Director for Arctaris. “We have dozens of Opportunity Zone neighborhoods here that are disconnected from traditional capital and the prosperity that can come with thoughtful investment.”

Allegheny County has 68 Opportunity Zones that are home to approximately 160,000 people. Most of these tracts have median household income under $40,000, compared to $63,000 for the state of Pennsylvania as a whole. Westmoreland County is home to another four Opportunity Zones.

Arctaris Founder and Managing Partner Jonathan Tower highlighted the Arctaris Impact Fund at the March 2021 OZ Pitch Day: