Community Investments

Volume 9; No. 4; Fall 1997

Notices

CRA & Technology: Bonding with Your Community

Relief is here for financial institutions seeking opportunities to purchase community development-related mortgage revenue bonds. Check out the new website (http://www.wa.gov/tre) on the Washington State Treasurer's Office home page to obtain notice of currently available mortgage revenue bond issues. While banks must conduct their usual due diligence for safety and soundness, purchase of the bonds may increase a bank's profitability while improving performance under the CRA investment test.

Spearheaded by Community Affairs staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the site was created through an alliance with local legal advisors, securities brokers, an affordable housing developer and Washington State representatives. Similar web pages for the states of Oregon, Utah and Idaho will be operational by year's end.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is proud to announce the recent publication of Community Profiles for the following locations:

Each community profile includes an analysis of the area's economic outlook and credit needs as well as descriptions of potential community-based partners.

To order copies, please contact June Yambao in Community Affairs at (415) 974-2978.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, in cooperation with The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, presents

New HUD Community Development Mapping Software

Community 2020 is HUD's new desktop geographic information system which displays local, regional and state information about housing and community development in vivid, easy-to-understand maps. This off-the-shelf, full feature mapping software uses up to 640 different census elements to describe the characteristics of a neighborhood or community. The user-friendly software can be an effective tool for local organizations examining lending patterns relative to economic and social aspects of the community. The Community 2020 software can also correlate HMDA data to other key economic and financial variables of specific neighborhoods. To learn more about this desktop mapping software, contact HUD's Community Connections office at (800) 998-9999 and ask for the Community 2020 order desk.