Policy Insights

Connecting the CRA to WIOA: Promising Policies for Bank Responsiveness to Workforce Development (PDF) — This Policy Insight makes the case for banks and their partners to generate both economic and social returns for their communities by providing examples of engagement in workforce development activities that may assist with their fulfillment obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

Expanding Affordable Housing Options: The Implementation of Duty to Serve (Part 2) — This Policy Insight focuses on the specific actions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac intend to take before December 2020 to fulfill their commitment to meet the needs of three markets: manufactured housing, rural housing and affordable housing preservation.

Expanding Affordable Housing Options: An Overview of Duty to Serve (Part 1) — Duty to Serve (DTS) requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to facilitate a secondary mortgage market in three underserved markets – manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation and rural housing. The goal of the program is to provide more homeownership and rental housing options for households with very low, low and moderate income. This Policy Insight provides an overview of the program, which began implementation in January 2018.

The State Small Business Credit Initiative  — This policy insight examines how the U.S. as a whole and how the states that comprise the Federal Reserve’s Eighth District—Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee—met the financing needs of small businesses located in low- and mo bderate-income and rural areas. Additionally, this policy insight will focus on the important role community development financial institutions played in the SSBCI program.