Region & Communities
Community Development
Community Development
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.
Community Development Articles
As part of our work, the Chicago Fed engages in research, discussions and analysis that bring insight and perspective to important economic issues affecting the Seventh District. We share our work through publication channels including Chicago Fed Insights, the Chicago Fed Letter, AgLetter, Economic Perspectives, and working papers.
Most Recent Article
Spotlight on Childcare and the Labor Market
In our discussions across the Midwest, both employers and workers describe the challenges created by a lack of affordable, reliable, and accessible childcare. Workers with small children must find quality affordable childcare that aligns with their work schedule. While for employers, limited local options for childcare make it more challenging to attract and retain workers. In response, staff at the Chicago Fed are leveraging our community engagement, policy analysis, and analytical capacities to better understand the dimensions of this challenge across the range of industries and communities in the Seventh Federal Reserve District.
This Spotlight on Childcare and the Labor Market is consistent with the Federal Reserve's mandate to maximize employment given that addressing the childcare challenge has the potential to promote job growth and participation in the labor force.
Lead Service Line Replacement
In the Upper Midwest, the widespread presence of lead service lines delivering water into homes poses elevated risks of lead exposure to millions of people. As federal and state policies push communities to accelerate replacement of lead lines, staff at the Chicago Fed are using our expertise in public policy, finance, and community economic development to help communities find ways to pay for the rapid replacement of lead service lines.
Peer City Identification Tool
This tool identifies cities experiencing similar trends or challenges. Identifying a municipality's peers can give needed context to policymakers and practitioners and promote dialogue between cities. To identify peers, click on the map or enter a city name, select a theme, and scroll down to explore the results. Learn more about this tool.
Additional Community Development Resources
- Fed Communities – Resources, data and stories of CD work across the Federal Reserve System
- Fed Small Business – Research on small business, including the Fed’s annual Small Business Credit Survey
