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.
An analysis by Woodstock Institute of Chicago area foreclosures show that foreclosure filings in the region grew at an alarming rate in 2006 and have reached their highest point in recent memory.
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.
This report summarizes an 18-month evaluation of the
affordable payday loan alternative products offered by six community development credit unions. In
addition to describing loan activity, the report identifies the financial and
operational factors that account for the program's success.
The report includes ten case studies of community finance initiatives in the US and the EU. These highlight the different features of community finance organisations, their target group and their core activities in order to identify what aspects of their operation are integral to creating successful interventions in deprived communities. The objective of these case studies is to highlight particular aspects of their activities and operating environment that are instructive for CDF in the UK.
Woodstock Institute provided case studies of US CDFIs.
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.
