Podcast – Home-Field Advantage

A weekly podcast for Opportunity Zone practitioners.

Every episode is a 30-minute conversation with someone who is doing OZ work right now — developers, investors, attorneys, CPAs, economic development directors, and policy experts. Real deals. Real data. Real decisions.

Hosted by Frances Kern Mennone and John Vachon (OZ Covalent). Launches April 28, 2026.

What You’ll Hear

The show covers four kinds of conversations, rotating throughout the year:

Deal Stories: A developer or investor walks through a real transaction — the capital stack, the zone, the timeline, what worked and what didn’t.

Advisor Conversations: A CPA or attorney talks through how they explain OZ to clients, what questions they get, and where practitioners trip up.

Policy & Designation: A researcher or state official explains what’s happening with the 2026 designation window — which states are moving, what data Treasury is using, and where the pressure points are.

Community Impact: An economic development director talks about what OZ capital actually did in their community — what it built, what it didn’t, and what the next cycle needs to get right.

All Episodes

Podcast Episodes

Latest Episodes

New conversations on Opportunity Zones, policy, structure, and the people shaping the work.

Episode 01

April 28, 2026

Welcome to Home Field Advantage

Hosted by Frances Kern Mennone and John Vachon, OZ Covalent

Frances and John launch the show by laying out why this moment in OZ matters and what OZ 2.0 actually changes. They also explain what the 2026 designation window means for practitioners and what Home Field Advantage will cover every week.

Listen 🎤 Watch 📺

Episode 02

May 5, 2026

What Happened in 1.0 (Coming Soon)

Guest: Bruce Katz, Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University

Hosted by Frances Kern Mennone and John Vachon, Covalent OZ Frances and John look back at OZ 1.0 — what the program actually delivered, where it fell short, and the question that pulled them into this work together: how does someone inside an Opportunity Zone actually use it? Their answers set up what OZ 2.0 has to get right.

Listen →

Further episodes added weekly after launch.

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Ep 5: Donec porttitor dui sit amet malesuada posuere

Ep 1: How to build a world-class business brand

Ep 2: How to build a world-class business brand

Ep 3: How to build a world-class business brand

Ep 4: How to build a world-class business brand

MOTIVATIONAL

EDUCATION

BUSINESS

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