Carmi Recto, Rebecca Landau, Edison Reyes, and Javier Silva, Communications and Outreach

The New York Fed’s Community Development Team has adopted a new strategy, focusing its energies on three key areas: health, climate, and household financial wellbeing. Our goal is to identify emerging solutions — especially those focused on fostering racial equity and improving life for underserved communities. In this post, we take a closer look at the financial challenges households face and their effect on the wider economy. We also invite you to an event on June 3 at which we will outline our approach to these focus areas.

Tony Davis, Marisa Casellas-Barnes, Javier Silva, Jessica Battisto, and Rebecca Landau, Communications and Outreach

The New York Fed’s Community Development team has adopted a new strategy, focusing its energies on three key areas: health, household income, and climate change. Our goal is to connect emerging solutions — especially those focused on fostering racial equity and improving life for underserved communities — with funding. This post is the first of three about these focus areas.

Marion Mollegen McFadden, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Community Partners

Editor’s note: In December, the New York Fed hosted a roundtable discussion as part of Investment Connection in Puerto Rico, a program that matches financial institutions and other capital providers with nonprofit and community development organizations working in Puerto Rico whose needs may qualify for credit under the Community Reinvestment Act. This guest column was contributed by one of the New York Fed’s community development partners in connection with that event. The views presented are the author’s alone and are offered to contribute to discussions on this topic.

Penelope Douglas, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Outreach & Education Visiting Scholar

Editor’s note: On Friday, November 20, the New York Fed and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) will host “Mobilizing Capital: Artists’ Impact on Community Health and Wellbeing,” a webinar focusing on artists’ contributions to building an equitable economy and healthy communities. This guest column was contributed by one of the New York Fed’s community development partners in connection with that program. The views presented are the author’s alone and are offered to contribute to discussions on this topic.

Edison Reyes, Associate, Communications and Outreach

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment in the United States was at historical lows, and the economy was enjoying a record expansion. But, the headline numbers and positive data trends notwithstanding, a disproportionate number of American families were struggling with low-paying jobs and rising levels of household debt. Now, the pandemic has damaged all sectors of the economy and has led to the highest rates of unemployment since the Great Depression. Low- and moderate-income communities and communities of color in particular have borne the brunt of the economic recession, which has only magnified health and racial inequities and the urgency of building a more equitable economy for all. Arts and culture are central to an equitable recovery, as they highlight local needs not reflected in the data, encourage participation by groups often left out of plans and discussions, and allow many community members to benefit from economic transformation and growth. Here, we highlight resources for identifying arts and culture strategies that may support this vision for the economy during the recovery from COVID-19.

Michelle Park Lazette, Senior Writer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

The night before certain Kansas City restaurants stopped smelling like barbecue, Justin Ikerionwu paused the TV to look out of his apartment window at downtown. He felt himself going down a rabbit hole of fear, consumed with what was known and unknown about COVID-19 and the way his Missouri community was shutting down. The streets below were empty.

Michelle Park Lazette, Senior Writer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Rocky Ridge Gas + Market doesn’t have an address — not a number, not a street name. Instead, those headed for it are told it’s one mile south of Rocky Ridge Boarding School in Navajo Nation down a dirt road, the one that curves around the market’s lone gas pump before continuing across brown and barren land.