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Dealing with the impact of manufacturing job losses in the Midwest
The Community Development and Policy Studies division (CDPS) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hosted the Industrial Cities Initiative Symposium (ICI) on February 28, 2012. More than 50 economists, development professionals, city representatives, and analysts from business, academia, and city government attended the symposium.
Journal Article
Recently certified CDFI banks and the CDFI banking sector
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund came into existence in 1995 with the mission to "expand the capacity of financial institutions to provide credit, capital and financial services to underserved populations and communities in the United States" Since the recent economic crisis, CDFIs have been a vehicle for the implementation of several new policy initiatives designe to direct capital to the nation's underserved communities, businesses, and home owners. Though few in number, CDFI banks hold the majority of capital among certified CDFIs.
Journal Article
Exploring the Correlations between Health and Community Socioeconomic Status in Chicago
Much research demonstrates that where you live ? and the socioeconomic conditions present in that place ? determine individual-level health outcomes.[1] The premise that individual stressors tend to aggregate themselves into communities with poor socioeconomic status (SES) leads to the conclusion that ?where you live determines how long you live.? As former Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke stated, ?Factors such as educational attainment, income, access to healthy food and the safety of a neighborhood tend to correlate with individual health outcomes in that neighborhood.?[2] These factors ...
Journal Article
Tools (Lessons and Strategies) Toward Market Restoration: A Conference Summary
Community development post-recession takes place in an environment that is greatly changed in terms of both demand for and capacity to deliver services. While no community was immune, the places that were most deeply affected by the Great Recession ? and continue to feel its effects ? are often those places that had suffered from disinvestment for decades leading up to it. The tools and strategies that have been developed and relied on by investors, practitioners and advocates ? in some cases for decades ? need to be adapted to the changes, while continuing to meet ever growing demand.
Journal Article
Suburban housing collaborative: a case for interjurisdictional collaboration
More than 280 municipalities surround the city of Chicago, with more than 120 in Cook County alone. The metropolitan region?s seven counties also include 123 townships, 307 school districts, 136 fire districts, 173 park districts, and 108 library districts. (GO TO 2040 2010) In recent years, some suburban communities have recorded foreclosure rates exceeding those of the most distressed inner city neighborhoods. In other towns, home values have fallen to 1990s levels. In still others, less than 10 percent of the local workforce can afford to live near where they work. Layered over all of ...
Journal Article
Mapping the recovery: sentiment survey of small Business intermediaries in Chicago
The Community Development and Policy Studies (CDPS) division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago distributed a poll to small business intermediaries in the fourth quarter of 2012 to ask about their perceptions of small business conditions in their neighborhoods. The purpose of this poll was to get a better understanding of the small business climate in diverse neighborhoods of the city of Chicago. It was designed to capture perspectives at the neighborhood level, perspectives that are not observable in aggregated data. The results show an array of opinions about the small business climate ...
Journal Article
Industrial cities initiative: working paper summary
"Rust Belt" is an epitaph for cities large and small throughout America's midwestern and northeastern regions. It encapsulates social and economic changes: "population loss, rising crime rates, loss of union jobs particularly in manufacturing, White flights to the suburbs, and a generally declining urban environment," in which massive, but abandoned factories rusted away and scarred the landscape of once vibrant cities.
Journal Article
Looking for Progress in America's Smaller Legacy Cities: A Report for Place-based Funders
Place-based funders2 can play an important role in connecting economic growth to economic opportunity. Looking for Progress in America's Smaller Legacy Cities describes a study tour undertaken by representatives from four Federal Reserve Banks and more than two dozen place-based funders, under the auspices of the Funders? Network-Federal Reserve Philanthropy Initiative. What began as an inquiry into four small legacy cities ? Chattanooga, TN; Cedar Rapids, IA; Rochester, NY; and Grand Rapids, MI ? that appeared to have experienced some measure of revitalization in the post Great Recession ...
Journal Article
Financial Well-being: At the Convergence of People and Place – Reflections from a Chicago Conversation
This brief collection of writings is based on a convening, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, to have a local conversation about financial well-being. This gathering was motivated by ?What It?s Worth,? a joint publication of the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, collecting insights from thought leaders across the country on the topic of financial capacity for families and communities.
Journal Article
Preliminary Findings from Focus Groups on Economic Inclusion in Smaller Cities
A growing body of work by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and partners points to challenges that "legacy cities" face in extending economic opportunity to all residents. This article reports findings from a series of focus groups conducted around the 7th District to better understand what city leaders are doing to advance positive labor market outcomes for residents.