Hyper-local data, whether aggregated by municipal agencies or independent researchers, is providing policymakers and ordinary citizens with the information to answer countless questions affecting the lives of Chicago residents. For example, parcel-level data assembled from a variety of sources is helping researchers to address how and whether infrastructure investments affect home prices ... Read More
Bank lending in low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods in the Chicago area has remained well below levels that preceded the Great Recession in 2008. Mortgage loans originating in LMI neighborhoods fell from a high of 33 percent of originations in Cook County in 2006 to a low of 17 percent in 2010 (chart 1), followed by a gradual upward trend to roughly 20 percent in the most recent ... Read More
Earlier this month, the Kansas City Federal Reserve hosted a community development conference: “Exploring Prominent Issues in Financial Resiliency and Mobility in Low- and Moderate-Income (LMI) Communities.” The conference took a fresh look at a variety of issues that affect the financial wellbeing of LMI communities, including health care, housing, jobs, education and consumer finance. ... Read More
Community Development departments in the Federal Reserve System work to understand and address barriers to economic mobility, and engage banks, government, and nonprofit intermediaries to channel financial and other resources to places in need of physical, economic, and other forms of community redevelopment. The Federal Reserve System began in 2009 to examine more closely the linkages be... Read More
Last fall, Detroit provided an illustrative backdrop for a summit on economic advancement in distressed communities, sponsored by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, the Upjohn Institute, Sage Publications and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The May 2016 Special Issue of Economic Development Quarterly makes available both the new research presented at the event, as well as ... Read More
In a recent article, Community Development and Policy Studies (CDPS) highlighted mortgage innovations serving low- and moderate-income (LMI) potential homebuyers. While Detroit has shown promising signs of an economic comeback, its housing market continues to struggle with a high number of blighted and vacant properties, and very limited mortgage lending activity. This blog summarizes a recently ... Read More
Every year, Community Development and Policy Studies (CDPS) researches issues that affect low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities in the Seventh District that relate to, among other topics, economic/worker mobility; access to competitively priced credit and financial services; small business development; health disparities by socioeconomic cohort; bank closure/consolidation; and affor... Read More
In honor of Earth Day last week, and in light of the emphasis that CDPS places on workforce development, this blog will profile two programs helping the formerly incarcerated enter or re-enter the workforce while making Chicago “greener.” According to various reports, the United States has the world's highest incarceration rate. None of the world's other 33 (as characterized by UN... Read More
On a recent tour of Spotted Cow Acres, LLC., located in Owen, Wisconsin, Jared and Justin Eloranta, brothers who own the farm, spent the morning demonstrating their new high-tech barn and robotic milking machines. With huge ceiling fans whirling over hundreds of cows, humans seemed totally out of place. A decades-long trend is that jobs in manufacturing and other industries have been repl... Read More
Every year, Community Development and Policy Studies (CDPS) researches issues that affect low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities in the Seventh District that relate to, among other topics, economic/worker mobility; access to competitively priced credit and financial services; small business development; health disparities by socio-economic cohort; bank closure/consolidation; and affor... Read More
