Federal Reserve Bank
of San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank
of San Francisco

Community Development Articles

Short-form insights on key community development topics, informed by research and engagement in the 12th District.

  • Applying Federal Reserve Data to Local Financial Inclusion Efforts: A Case Study from California’s Central Valley

    Jason Vargo, Leilani Barnett

    Local data presented by Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco staff at the San Joaquin Valley Financial Empowerment convening highlighted Kings County as a regional outlier in credit insecurity, prompting partners to prioritize Bank On outreach there. The convening showed how place‑based insights and online data tools readily available from the Federal Reserve can quickly translate into targeted action to expand safe, low‑fee banking access.

  • Understanding the Evolving AI Landscape and Its Implications for Community Development

    Elizabeth Kneebone, Bina Shrimali

    The latest Community Investments series examines the evolving landscape of AI and its implications for community development. This article summarizes the range of topics and stakeholders explored in this issue.

  • Early Findings on Small Business Use of AI

    Natalie Holmes, Sarah Simms, Rocio Sanchez-Moyano

    The Federal Reserve’s Small Business Credit Survey asked about AI use for the first time in 2024. Well over one-third of small businesses reported they were already using or planning to use AI.

  • Insights from Community Development Stakeholders on Early Organizational and Employment Impacts of AI Adoption

    Natalie Holmes, Elizabeth Kneebone

    Insights from community development roundtables and listening sessions show the ways AI adoption has taken place to date and its early impacts for organizations and staffing.

  • How Workforce and Training Organizations Are Navigating the Adoption of AI

    Natalie Holmes, Elizabeth Kneebone

    The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), and especially generative AI, is creating new opportunities and challenges for workforce systems and training organizations. Through listening sessions over the course of 2025, we engaged with nearly 20 representatives of workforce, training, educational, and other community-based organizations that work with lower-income populations to help them prepare for, […]

  • The Role Technical Assistance Can Play in AI Adoption

    Natalie Holmes, Sarah Simms

    Insights from community development roundtables, surveys, and events suggests that technical assistance could play a role in helping overcome barriers to AI adoption.

  • Reflections on AI Implementation and Guardrails for Community-Based Organizations

    Tracy Choi, Elizabeth Kneebone

    Insights from nonprofit and philanthropic leaders on the role AI policies and guardrails can play in implementing AI in mission-driven organizations.

  • How Does Worker Health and Safety Matter for Full Employment?

    Lina Stepick

    In this interview, Visiting Scholar Lola Loustaunau discusses her research with food processing workers in Oregon and Washington, how worker health and safety relates to full employment, ways to address barriers workers face, and COVID-19’s impact on workers in essential industries.

  • Perspectives from Idaho

    Leilani Barnett

    To succeed at the highest level, and to be inclusive so that everyone in a community can participate in that success, we need to work collaboratively. Leilani Barnett shares highlights from the Idaho Rural Success Summit, a cross-sector collaboration, which sought to spotlight successful examples of rural community development.

  • Beyond the Numbers: Amidst Signs of Progress, Inflation Concerns Persist in the Federal Reserve’s Twelfth District

    To get a sense of how economic conditions have–or have not–evolved over the last six months, the SF Fed sat down again with Twelfth District leaders in August. In this edition of our “Beyond the Numbers” series, we listened and learned how rising prices are affecting housing, employment, and non-profits.