Community development is one of the Fed’s core functions as the U.S. central bank and is rooted in its mandates from Congress.

Community development helps the Fed promote a healthy economy and a strong financial system and aims for people in every community to have opportunities to participate in the economy and prosper.

Community development staff conduct research and outreach to understand economic conditions in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities.

The insights we gain about economic conditions help to inform Fed leaders on monetary policy decisions that support a strong economy. The Fed has a mandate from Congress to promote maximum employment and stable prices. To meet these policy goals, we must understand how people from all walks of life experience the economy and how policy decisions affect their experiences.

Community Development in the Seventh District

All twelve Federal Reserve Banks, including the Chicago Fed, work with a broad range of community partners to advance the Fed’s mandate from Congress. We bring people together to identify key challenges and practices to address them. We conduct and share research, and we identify emerging issues.

Each Reserve Bank tailors its community development activities to respond to the economic needs of the region it serves. In the Seventh District, the community development staff at the Chicago Fed works on a wide variety of issues. Examples include workforce development, housing, small business development, economic challenges and opportunities presented by state mandates for lead service line replacement, and efforts to revitalize urban and rural economies.