Tony Davis and Javier Silva

Puerto Rico’s community development financial institution (CDFI) sector has grown 15-fold over the last decade following a collaboration that brought together leaders from government, community development finance, and Puerto Rico’s credit unions, known as cooperativas.

Jacob Scott, Maria Carmelita Recto, and Jonathan Kivell

A more robust secondary market for loans originated by Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which specialize in lending to low- and moderate-income communities, would give CDFIs greater access to capital, thus allowing them to make more loans. This is why the Community Development team at the New York Fed is researching the secondary market for loans originated by CDFIs and how that market could be expanded.

Julian Macrone

The New York Fed and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs brought together economists, Ph.D. candidates, and climate experts on October 2 for the second annual Environmental Economics and Policy Conference, “Measuring and Adapting to Climate Risk.” The conference featured a keynote address from Columbia University professor and Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and a conversation between Stiglitz and New York Fed President John C. Williams.

Julian Macrone

The New York Fed and the Center for Impact Finance at University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy brought together leaders from the climate, health, and community development finance sectors for the annual Financial Innovations Roundtable, held in June. The Roundtable was part of an ongoing collaboration between the New York Fed and the Carsey School that aims to identify innovative ways to fund improvements in low- and moderate-income communities.

Ellen Simon

The New York Fed’s Community Development team is researching what private investments in affordable apartments mean for the supply of affordable rentals and the rents tenants pay. As part of that work, the team published a case study in March based on a survey of managers of private investment vehicles, which found that respondents raised a median $300 million in equity for affordable-housing private investment vehicles since 2017. The team also brought together private investors, affordable-housing advocates, and experts in the field for an in-person event on March 27, 2023.

Brian Manning

The New York Fed’s Legal Group launched the Pro Bono Legal Work Program in early 2021 to encourage staff to provide free legal services to those in need.

David Erickson and Emily Garr Pacetti

Low- and moderate-income people face intertwined economic challenges. A family unable to replace drafty windows may pay a higher heating bill each month, making paying other bills more difficult. Small business owners who lack access to loans may be unable to hire new workers, making local jobs harder to find.

Jacob Scott

In 2021, about one of every 10 households was food insecure at some point, worrying that their food would run out before there was money to buy more. The costs of widespread food insecurity are felt everywhere, since hunger reduces productivity and costs the healthcare system billions of dollars each year.

Marisa Casellas-Barnes, Communications and Outreach

Nathaniel Counts, senior vice president for behavioral health innovation at Mental Health America and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will be a featured speaker at a September 13 event on using capital markets to fund investments in health equity. Ahead of the event, “Creating 21st Century Capital Markets for Better Social Outcomes: Transformative Change Through Debt Financing,” we spoke with him about the idea of funding investments in healthy communities using the savings created by better health outcomes.

Ellen Simon, Communications and Outreach

On Tuesday, May 17, the New York Fed hosted “Money and Mission: Creating 21st Century Capital Markets for Better Social Outcomes.” The event’s featured speakers were Rev. Cory Anderson, chief innovation officer, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation; Geoffrey Canada, founder and president, Harlem Children’s Zone and William Julius Wilson Institute; Audrey Choi, senior advisor, Morgan Stanley; Andrea Levere, president emerita, Prosperity Now; and Clara Miller, president emerita, the F.B. Heron Foundation.

Otho Kerr, the New York Fed’s director of strategic partnerships and community impact investing, delivered closing remarks. His comments, lightly edited for length, follow.