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Journal Article
An overview of changes to credit card regulations and discussion of potential impacts on card users
Significant regulatory changes affecting credit card terms and conditions were signed into law in May 2009, and took effect in February 2010. A number of these changes will affect lower-income consumers, ostensibly those with few options to "shop" contracts and features in ways that might not impact mainstream consumers. Most Changes will affect the majority of consumers. This brief essay summarizes the overall changes, and provides some comments on the changes that may affect the subprime and/or lower-income subset of credit card user, as well as those impacted by job loss or business ...
Journal Article
Islamic finance: meeting financial needs with faith based products
This article explores the demand for and the availability of financial products for Muslims who adhere to religious prohibitions against receiving and paying interest. This is an evolving area of consumer and small business finance, and the goal of this article is to provide an overview of the potential market for Islamic finance, to describe the organizations that currently provide these products, and to highlight some of the challenges of satisfying both religious tenets and government regulations. Two facets of financial products, asset financing, and investments, are addressed. ...
Journal Article
Tax-time Savings: An Antidote to Financial Insecurity
The value proposition of ?What It?s Worth? is the opportunity, working collaboratively between the public, nonprofit and private sectors, to address the growing economic insecurity and financial stability plaguing a growing number of Americans. The results of countless polls and surveys evidence the financial uncertainty facing the least advantaged in our economy. The aftermath of the Great Recession and the loss of assets for many, combined with reduced job security, downward pressure on wages, and higher out-of-pocket health expenses are some of the drivers behind this insecurity.
Journal Article
Assets and opportunity in the Midwest: a comprehensive look at the 7th District based on the CFED Scorecard
There is perhaps no better or more tangible indicator of the strength of an economy than the measure of assets and protections ? financial, business, home, education, and health ? built by families and society. Not only does an accounting of the amount, range, and distribution of assets of an economy provide an incisive picture of the current health and resilience of an economy, but more importantly, it reflects the ability of an economy and the families within it to adapt, to find advantages, and to shape the future.
Journal Article
Employment Challenges for the Formerly Incarcerated
The U.S. economy is on a historic run of job creation, with 76 straight months of job growth as of June 2016. Many firms are looking for new pools of talent as traditional pools are increasingly absorbed by rising employment. Wages are beginning to rise more rapidly than they have for several years, with ADP?s Workforce Vitality Report for Q1 2016 estimating annual wage growth for full-time job holders of 4.7 percent. The strengthening labor market provides an opportunity for both employers and policymakers to reconsider the status of subgroups that face distinct barriers to the job market. ...
Journal Article
RHOPI perspectives: the Chicago Community Trust
Starting in the second half of 2007,the foreclosure crisis spread quickly across the Chicago area, seriously affecting communities of color and vulnerable populations. Although some public, private, and nonprofit responses to the growing foreclosure crisis in the Chicago area had started to develop in mid-2008, most of these responses seemed to be concentrated in the city of Chicago and a few nearby suburbs.The Chicago Community Trust (Trust), in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation, commissioned the first region-wide report to catalogue those responses. Unsurprisingly, the study ...
Journal Article
Opportunity Zones: Understanding the Background and Potential Impact in Northeastern Illinois
This article offers a primer on: Opportunity Zones, highlighting the designation process for census tracts in northeastern Illinois; Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOF) ? the vehicle that will facilitate investment in designated areas; and finally, how QOFs will help facilitate the goals of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning?s ON TO 2050 Plan.
Journal Article
CEDA (Community and Economic Development of Association): celebrating 40 years of building community partnerships to improve lives
After President Lyndon Johnson declared an ?unconditional war on poverty?1 in 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act2 was drafted, and numerous organizations quickly formed to wage battle in communities around the country. The Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County, Inc. (CEDA)3was one such group. Established in 1966, CEDA began at the grassroots level ? in schools, churches, storefronts, and community centers. It is now one of the largest private nonprofit organizations in the U.S., with over 200 offices throughout Cook County. With a staff of 700, over 4,500 volunteers, ...
Journal Article
Small Business Credit Survey Are you a small business or do you work with small businesses that would be interested in participating in the 2017 Small Business Credit Survey?
The dual mandate of the Federal Reserve includes maximum employment. Small business development and growth is essential to full employment. "More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the US each year," according to the Small Business Administration. To learn more about credit access and business conditions for this very large cohort of employers, Community Development and Policy Studies, a department of the Chicago Federal Reserve, is working to engage small businesses through trade, advisory, and other ...
Journal Article
Predatory lending—a grassroots perspective
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCl) is a multiissue, statewide nonprofit organization with a 28-year history and nearly 2,000 dues-paying members. CCI was founded in 1975 in Waterloo, Iowa, by people who wanted to address local problems and improve their community. Since then, CCI has expanded to include urban members from Des Moines and family farmers and other rural citizens from across the state. Iowa CCI?s purpose is to empower and unite grassroots people of all ethnic backgrounds to address problems in their community and win positive social, economic, and environmental justice.