Indepth analysis of persistant problems in the field of community development. Woodstock's research reports contribute to the body of knowledge used by policymakers and community development practitioners.
Marva Williams, Principal Investigator
Sarah Duda and Tom Feltner, Co-Authors
This report details the partnership process and lessons learned from a two-year technical assistance program designed to help community organizations partner with mainstream credit unions with the goal of enrolling new lower-income members or expanding an existing partnership. The case studies describing these partnerships identify four strategic areas through which partnerships can be strengthened and the common barriers to developing a successful partnership can be overcome.
This paper takes advantage of an unusually detailed family and youth survey conducted by the Institute for the Study of Work and Society (IETS) in Rio de Janeiro in the low-income community of Caju close to downtown Rio. It describes the weak educational background of Caju youth and some of the reasons for that weakness. The results emphasize the precarious nature of low-income youth’s educational achievements and their attachment to the job market. They also demonstrate the wide variance in youth characteristics even in a single low-income neighborhood.
Demonstrates that banks with a commitment to reach unbanked or under-banked households can do so effectively and efficiently. The report profiles programs and services at Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Union Bank of California, First Bank of the Americas in Chicago, First Interstate Bank in Montana and Wyoming, and Wells Fargo Bank Wisconsin. These banks provide affordable checking or lifeline accounts, innovative financial literacy programs, and creative outreach and marketing strategies.
Describes the regulatory and other industry trends that impact the penetration of lower-income markets by credit unions. The report recommends that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) be amended to include credit unions.
This alert examines the service test evaluations of Chicago area large banks and thrifts to determine what information on services is collected and analyzed during the test procedures and looks at how regulators use these data to assess service test performance. The alert also discusses the limitations of the available data and makes recommendations for steps that might be taken to improve the effectiveness of the service test performance evaluation.
