In this Issue…

Happy New Year!

There is no doubt that 2010 was a busy, challenging and exciting year in the Community Development department of the St. Louis Fed. We hosted conferences, delivered presentations and were involved in numerous discussions—with consumers, banking officials, nonprofit leaders, community development professionals and many others. As we continue to search for ways to serve our readers and explore more ways that we can work together, we’d like to request some input from you.

This issue of Bridges includes a reader survey. You are very important to us, and we want you to help us identify the ways in which we can improve our newsletter to better fit your needs. Of particular interest, in this age of technology, are questions related to online readership. We hope that you’ll take a few minutes to answer some short questions and let us know more about you and what you’d like to see in the pages of Bridges in the future.

The current issue is a bit different from the rest of those published this year. Rather than a themed issue, this one brings you topical stories of general interest. The cover story is a great synopsis by Ray Boshara of what we’ve learned about saving and the poor; the title is very descriptive—there are indeed some surprising findings here. Brian Dabson’s article takes us to small-town America to take a look at the needs of our nation’s rural communities. And don’t forget to save the date for our conference this spring, Exploring Innovation: A Conference on Community Development Finance; some of the exciting details are provided here by Faith Weekly, a community development specialist at the Louisville Branch of the St. Louis Fed.

We look forward to hearing from you via the online survey. Please feel free to include any additional comments you think are necessary or relevant to improving Bridges. Your responses and time are greatly appreciated.

Thank you!