Demonstrates the importance of bank investments in community development financial institutions (CDFIs) that are crucial actors in low-income community development. Utilizing a new data source covering 379 CDFIs across the country, finds that bank investments are crucial to CDFIs. Provides evidence of the importance of the investment test portion of CRA exams and calls for an increase in the appropriation of the federal CDFI Fund.

 

The report documents the decline in personal savings rates while explaining the recent saving incentive for lower-income people created by the federal Pension Protection Act of 2006.  While the credit is a modest step in the right direction for providing lower-income people the level of incentives currently provided to middle- and upper-income people, the report recommends that it be made refundable to expand its benefits to all income qualified tax payers.

Analyzes impacts of CDFIs in Illinois using FY 2001 data. Shows impactsof CDFIs on affordable housing, community facilities, individual development account programs, technical assistance, and other benefits. Makes a case for funding for the newly created Illinois Fund for Investment and Development (IFID), a CDFI authority for the state of Illinois.

Since the passage of the Gramm Leach Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999 (GLBA), insurance companies, banks, mortgage companies, and securities firms have been allowed to merge with and acquire one another for the first time since the Great Depression. This Alert discusses the community development implications of these changes. It also gives an overview of how insurance companies that have opened bank charters are performing in relation to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and fair lending.

The purpose of this guide is to help community organizations enable their members to join a mainstream credit union and begin building modest assets. Many credit unions offer financial products and services tailored to the needs of low-income people, but mainstream credit unions have not historically reached this population. Partnering with community organizations expands a credit union's membership while giving community organizations the tools to help their members build assets.

The focus of this report is an analysis of changes in home buying in the Chicago area among different income groups.  We compared buyers in 1993 and 1994 (combined) to those in 1999 and 2000 (combined).