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Community Development Innovation Review
Mental Health and Community Development
This issue of the Community Development Innovation Review is dedicated to the topic of mental health and community development. It advances the healthy communities conversation by explicitly recognizing the relationship between mental health and physical health as well as the role social factors play in both aspects of overall wellbeing. As the World Health Organization (WHO) says, “There is no health without mental health.” As the articles in this issue of the Review reveal, there are profound connections between poverty, place, and poor mental health. Issues like financial insecurity, housing instability, community violence, and limited economic prospects are risk factors for poor mental health—they are also the very same issues that community development seeks to address. In addition, the articles explore emerging themes in the field and their connection to mental health, such as the prevalence of trauma, community resilience in the face of climate change, and the power of arts and culture to engage and activate a community.
Community Development Research Briefs
Research Briefs feature data and commentary on emerging community development trends.
At What Cost? Student Loan Debt in the Bay Area
For most Americans, an investment in higher education is a key driver of economic security and mobility. However, rapidly rising costs of attendance, combined with stagnant wages and inadequate support systems for vulnerable borrowers have resulted in outcomes that are at odds with our collective vision of higher education as a crucial foundation for achieving the American Dream. This report highlights the local contours of this issue in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region, particularly for low-income communities and communities of color, using Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax Data.
Community Investments
This quarterly publication focuses on community development issues and innovative solutions relevant to communities within the Federal Reserve’s 12th District.
Veterans and Community Development
In this issue of Community Investments, we look into some of the reasons why we are seeing a degree of disconnection between what veterans need and the resources available to them. As we consider how the public can address these missing links, this issue’s articles provide evidence from local initiatives demonstrating effective ways for communities to recognize, support, and collaborate with veterans in the arenas of employment, housing, education, and financial stability. Many of the efforts presented here also highlight the ways in which veterans themselves are serving and supporting their fellow veterans and their broader communities.
Open Source Solutions
The Open Source Solutions series highlights innovative community development ideas offered by experts from across the field.
The Arts and the Power of the Passionate Banker
This paper explores the role that banks can play in supporting arts and cultural investments in low-income communities. Based on a series of interviews with CRA bankers, it provides examples of how banks are involved in the arts and explores the ways in which banks may receive CRA consideration for investments in community arts organizations. The paper also provides helpful conversation starters to support emerging partnerships between banks and arts organizations.
Vantage Point
The Community Indicators Project collects input from community stakeholders about the issues and trends facing low- and moderate-income communities in the 12th District.
Vantage Point: The 12th District Community Indicators Project, 2014
This issue of Vantage Point synthesizes the key themes that emerged in the 2013 community indicators survey based on the responses of 289 expert stakeholders from the 12th District.
Working Papers
Working papers provide in-depth analysis of new community development issues from practitioners and scholars.
When Home is the Most Dangerous Place: How a Community Development Organization Learned to Get the Lead Out
2018-01The debacle of lead-poisoned children in Flint, Michigan reminded us of the insidious and permanent impact of this toxic poison on a child’s brain. However, millions of children (and seniors) living in older homes, especially ones with flaking paint, are still being lead poisoned. Today, the vast majority of children who become poisoned by lead come from lower-income families of color—those least able to shoulder this added burden. This is where community-based nonprofit organizations—especially the 1,000+ groups that weatherize and retrofit older homes across the country—can step in and play a key role.
Special Publications
Community Close-Up: East Oakland
Community Close-Up is a photo series highlighting stories of resilience from communities facing economic hardship. The first in the series centers on the voices and experiences of low-income women living and raising children in East Oakland.
