FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Fort Wayne’s economic development group has rolled out its plans for expanding their efforts.

Officials with Greater Fort Wayne, Inc. announced several initiatives during the organization’s annual meeting yesterday.

The Journal Gazette reports those initiatives include the Bridge Investor Program, which just launched. The program helps create connections between local business people by allowing local leaders to sponsor smaller entrepreneurs for Greater Fort Wayne membership.

They also plan on beginning work on a five-year economic development strategy for Allen County this fall. That strategy will include downtown and neighborhood growth plus work to expand local infrastructure.

The plans also include giving some parts of Fort Wayne some “preferential tax treatment.”

The group plans to team with City officials to create so-called Opportunity Zones that, according to the IRS, are “economically distressed communities where new investments may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.”

Ten Fort Wayne census tracts fall under that designation, where investors can defer paying capital gain taxes in an effort to “spur economic development and job creation.”

Another priority for Greater Fort Wayne is to expand the Leadership Fort Wayne program.