Over the last ten years, Woodstock Institute has documented the contributions CDFIs make to low-income communities. Woodstock’s research has, for example, shown that community development banks, unlike regular banks, make the vast majority of their housing and small business loans in lower-income and minority communities. Other Woodstock research has shown the slow but steady growth of community development credit unions and the very special role they play in low-income neighborhoods. Woodstock will continue to use this growing research to argue the case for CDFIs and help develop and preserve mechanisms to build CDFIs equity capital.

Woodstock Institute is also working to develop assessment criteria that could be applied to Chicago area CDFIs working in concentrated geographic areas. Evaluating impact beyond outputs is complicated because many extraneous variables impact household and community asset building in addition to the work of CDFIs. The Institute is beginning to plan several small area analyses of the impact of large Chicago CDFIs on clearly defined geographical tracts.

Collaborators or Competitors? Exploring the Relationships between Community Development Financial Institutions and Conventional Lenders in Small Business Finance

Reconsidering UK Community Development Finance

Reinvestment Alert 21: Impacts of CDFIs in Illinois: A Case for an Improved Illinois Fund for Investment and Development

Reinvestment Alert 20: CRA and CDFIs Revisitied:The Importance of Bank Investments for the Community Development Financial Institutions Industry and Implications for CRA Regulatory Review

Reinvestment Alert 19: Community Development Banks Substantially Outscore Other Banks in Serving Low-Income and Minority Communities