Newport is best known for its mansion-studded “Gold Coast,” a late-19th-century playground for the ultra-rich filled with spectacular 15-bedroom “summer cottages.” It’s also a city where 13.4% of residents live below the poverty line, well above the statewide average.

“Newport is thought of as wealthy, but it has this huge pocket of poverty that people don’t necessarily see,” said Joe Pratt, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Newport County.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins got a glimpse of the economic realities in Newport and broader Rhode Island during a visit to the state Wednesday. Newport was the final stop in a day that began in Cranston and Providence and featured discussions with leaders of statewide businesses and nonprofits.

Collins said her periodic visits to New England’s cities and towns are essential to informing her policy recommendations. A self-described “data geek,” Collins emphasized the importance of having face-to-face discussions and not just relying on the empirical economic data for which the Fed is known.

“A lot of data is actually talking about what happened in the past, and it’s very aggregate, it almost masks the range of experiences people are having,” she told business leaders in Providence. “And so, I find it really invaluable to listen and hear from people.”

Collins tours Newport’s North End neighborhood, hears about Working Cities Challenge successes

Collins’ time in Newport began with a driving tour through downtown and the North End neighborhood, where the poverty rate is roughly triple that of the broader city. Every few blocks, Pratt would point to another public housing development, including units converted from military housing once associated with Newport’s sprawling naval station.

The Boston Fed has long been involved in Newport. The city hosted a team – which Pratt helped lead – from the Bank’s Working Cities Challenge, or WCC, a community development initiative that began its work in Newport in 2017.

At a meeting later at the Florence Gray Center, a North End community center, residents told Collins about the WCC legacy, including supports for Newport’s Hispanic community and various educational and workforce development programs.

Newport native Ellen Pinnock said she was aimless and struggling when WCC leaders encouraged her to begin working with kids. It clicked, and now she works for FabNewport, which focuses on youth development and opportunity. She’s also running for city council.

“These are all things I never would have seen myself doing if I didn’t get empowered by the people that were part of Working Cities and are still very much a part of my life and my heart,” Pinnock said.

Business advocates: Rhode Island’s “microbusinesses” need more support

Earlier Wednesday, Collins attended a roundtable at the Rhode Island Black Business Associations (or RIBBA) Equity Hub in Providence. The discussion was led by advocates for small business, including members of the Business Empowerment Alliance of RI. Some spoke about the ways they’ve supported each other via RIBBA and other avenues.

“We’re no longer competing, but rather we’re collaborating, and that’s where we’ve seen great success,” said Lisa Ranglin, CEO of the Rhode Island Black Business Association.

Several participants pushed for greater support for the state’s “microbusinesses” – those with 10 or fewer employees. Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies of The Economic Progress Institute noted a recent report by her organization found that 93% of the state’s businesses were microbusinesses, and many were struggling to stay afloat.

“Our business owners in this state need more technical support, more financial assistance, to really be able to scale up. And so, we really need to have targeted investments to do that,” said Nelson-Davies, who is also a member of Boston Fed’s Community Development Advisory Council.

Large employers discuss challenges including hiring, high interest rates, inflation

At an afternoon stop at the AAA Providence headquarters, Collins heard from executives from some of the state’s larger businesses and employers. Some told her hiring was extremely difficult.

“We have to figure out ways to retain and recruit,” said John Fernandez president and CEO of Lifespan, a regional hospitals and health care provider.

David Hardy, CEO of the Americas for alternative energy provider Orsted, said high interest rates and inflation are major concerns for his company, which develops capital-intensive projects like offshore wind farms.

“Our business, like most real estate developers or any other company where it’s very capital intensive, is very affected by interest rates and inflation,” he said.

Laurie White of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce asked Collins if the Fed would ever back off its 2% target for inflation. The Fed has raised interest rates to try to lower inflation to meet that target. Collins said now isn’t the time to consider that kind of change.

“The middle of bringing inflation down after such a big spike to me is not the time to talk about moving the goal posts in the middle of the game,” she said.