Building America's goal is to create jobs that provide family-supporting wages with pension and healthcare benefits for residents of each local community in which it invests.

This includes requiring 100% union labor on every project financed. Our approach to local construction hiring is to get involved early in the process, working with the local building trades unions, local government agencies, and the contractor before the construction contract is finalized. 

Building America’s New Markets Tax Credit allocations have created/retained:

  • 5,237 union construction jobs

  • 3,082 permanent jobs

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Paseo Verde - Philadelphia, PA

For example, Building America allocated $5 million in the construction of the $48.2 million Paseo Verde project, in Philadelphia, PA. The project created 303 union construction jobs. Tenants include Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha with 145 permanent jobs providing community services including foster care case management, a food buying club, a job training/placement center, housing counseling, and a non-profit housing developer. Other tenants include a healthcare center with 17 positions, of which 30% are for community residents, and a pharmacy with 8 jobs, of which 3 are low-income community residents.