2008 Series

Communities & Banking

Spring 2008 Spring 2008

March 1, 2008
  • Early Childhood Development Yields High Returns
    by Arthur J. Rolnick and Rob Grunewald, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
    Public investments in projects like new stadiums never achieve returns equal to those from early childhood education-which several small studies have assessed at 7 percent to 20 percent. Now Minnesota is testing whether scaling up can produce the same results.
  • FIRST Robotics in Clinton, Massachusetts
    by Judi Poe, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
    School and business partnerships can strengthen the workforce. The vehicle for one such collaboration is FIRST, a national robotics competition that a Massachusetts school district and plastics company Nypro Inc. have participated in since 1992: "the hardest fun ever."
  • Mapping New England: Community Colleges Serve Local Needs
    by Kai-yan Lee, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
    The spatial distribution of community colleges in New England generally corresponds to the concentration
    of potential applicants.
  • Viewpoint: Competitiveness and the Community College
    by William D. Green, Accenture CEO
    Bill Green is living proof that community colleges can lead to a great career. In this "Viewpoint," he makes the case that they also can help U.S. business maintain its competitive edge while improving the economic resilience of local communities.
  • Rebuilding a Community: Lessons from New Orleans
    by Kenneth M. Reardon, Cornell University
    Whether low-income communities are struggling to rebuild after a hurricane or after long neglect, the challenges often seem insurmountable. The New Orleans 9th Ward's inclusive approach to decision making shows that the best revitalization plans are those with the broadest buy-in.
  • Measuring Cultural Vitality in Communities
    by Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph.D., The Urban Institute
    Until recently, arts and culture data collected as part of urban revitalization planning focused on large institutions. The Urban Institute's Arts and Culture Indicators Project provides a richer understanding of communities' cultural strength and how it can boost economic development.
  • The Evolution of Philanthropy
    by Kerry Murphy
    As philanthropy evolves, nonprofits are responding to trends that include donors' increased emphasis on results, a movement to pool small contributions for targeted impact, and a preference for contributing professional skills instead of baked goods.
  • Green Investment Strategies: A Positive Force in Cities
    by Susan M. Wachter, Kevin C. Gillen, and Carolyn R. Brown, University of Pennsylvania
    Deterioration of urban neighborhoods is known to induce outmigration, but how well do public investments to reverse decline actually work? To evaluate Philadelphia's greening investment, researchers measured property buyers' willingness to pay more-and found that greening works.
  • The Heron Foundation Expands Philanthropy's Reach
    by Michael Swack, Southern New Hampshire University
    Contrary to the perception of trade-offs between financial return and social impact, the F.B. Heron Foundation demonstrates that it's possible to achieve competitive returns while incorporating mission-related investments into an overall portfolio and asset allocation.
  • Public Investment in Higher Education
    by Philip A. Trostel, University of Maine
    Conservatively speaking, a college graduate generates $142,000 in state fiscal benefits over time while costing a state only $60,500. But trends in higher education allocations (4.1 percent of total state spending nationwide in 1984; 1.8 percent in 2004) suggest states have become shortsighted.

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